LAKESIDE 


THE  LAKESIDE 

FIRE  MEMORIAL. 


THE 


LAKESIDE  MEMORIAL 


OF 


THE  BURNING  OF  CHICAGO, 


A.    D.    1871. 


// '/  777  ILL  USTRA  TIONS. 


CHICAGO: 

NIVERSITY    IT  BUSH  l\<;  COMPANY 
1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  by 

THE  UNIVERSITY  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHICAGO    BEFORE    THE    FIRE. 

FIRST  HOUSE  BUILT  IN  CHICAGO. 

CHICAGO  WATER  WORKS. 

FIELD,  LEITER  &  Co.'s  STORE. 

CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE. 

BOOKSELLERS'  Row. 

SHERMAN  HOUSE. 

PALMER  HOUSE. 

DRAKE  AND  FARWELL  BLOCK. 

COURT  HOUSE. 

NEW  ENGLAND  AND  UNITY  CHURCHES. 

TRIBUNE  BUILDING. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I.— BEFORE  THE  FIRE. 

CHICAGO'S  HISTORY,  TOPOGRAPHY,  AND  ARCHITECTURE       .     J.   W.  Foster.  .       i 

OUR  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE Charles  Randolph.  n 

OUR    .tSTHETICAL    DEVELOPMENT jf.    B.   Runnion.  l8 

PART  II.— BURNING  OF  THE  CITY. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREAT  FIRE U'.  S.   Walker.  22 

THE  FLIGHT  FOR  LIFE H.  R.  Hobart.  40 

PART  III.— AFTER  THE  FIRE. 

THE  BURNT- OUT  PEOPLE  ;   WHAT  WAS  DONE  FOR  THEM        Andrew  Shuman.  43 

AMONG  THE  RUINS F.  B.   Wilkie.  50 

RECONSTRUCTION W.  A.  Croffitt.  53 

PART  IV.— THE  LOSSES. 

REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY Elias  Colbert.  58 

COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS     ....         Frank  Gilbert.  64 

RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS          .         .               E.  O.  Haven.  71 

INSTITUTIONS  OF  ART,  SCIENCE,  AND  LITERATURE  .        .           G.  P.   Upton.  76 

PART  V.— THE  FUTURE. 

WHAT  REMAINS William  Ah-in  Barth-tt.  82 

NEW  CHICAGO -         J.   W.  Foster.  83 

SUPPLEMENTARY. 

THE  FIRES  OF  HISTORY Egbert  P helps.  86 

SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES     ....           Elias  Colbert.  90 

POLITICAL  ECONOMY  OF  THK  FIRE           ....          D.  H.    Wheeler.  96 

APPENDIX. 

CHICAGO  ANU  THK  RELIEF  COMMITTEE       .         .         .       Sydney  Hou-ani  Gay.  103 


THE 


LAKESIDE  MEMORIAL 


THE  BURNING  OF  CHICAGO. 


PART  I.— BEFORE  THE  FIRE. 


A    GLANCE   AT   CHICAGO'S    HISTORY  — ITS    TOPOGRAPHY    AND 
ARCHITECTURE. 


THE  Conflagration  of  Chicago, 
October  8th  and  gih,  Anno  Dom- 
ini 1871,  will  form  a  memorable  event 
in  the  future  history  not  only  of  our  own 
country  but  of  the  world ;  and  there- 
fore it  is  that  we  propose  to  embody  in 
a  permanent  and  accessible  form  for 
the  benefit  of  the  future  annalist,  the 
principal  incidents  connected  with  this 
tremendous  event.  This  conflagration, 
in  the  amount  of  property  consumed, 
is  beyond  the  memory  or  example  of 
ancient  or  modern  times.  Other  great 
conflagrations,  like  those  of  London 
and  of  Moscow,  swept  away  districts 
but  imperfectly  built,  which  subsequent 
enterprise  beautified  and  adorned  ;  but 
this  conflagration  wiped  out  the  most 
substantially -built  and  beautifully- 
adorned  portion  of  the  city — structures, 
which  in  their  solidity  and  in  their  ar- 
chitectural details  commanded  the  ad- 
miration of  every  beholder. 


There  are  men  yet  living  and  in  the 
prime  of  manhood,  who  saw  the  site  of 
Chicago  when  it  was  but  a  wet  prairie. 
They  have  seen  its  fairest  portions  laid 
in  waste  ;  and  they  will  live,  very  many 
of  them,  to  see  every  trace  of  this  waste 
obliterated.  The  same  causes  which  led 
to  the  rapid  growth  of  this  city  are  still 
in  operation  ;  and  this  conflagration, 
disastrous  as  it  was,  will  prove  but  a 
temporary  check  in  the  development  of 
the  great  metropolis  of  the  Northwest. 

To  comprehend  the  causes  of  the  un- 
precedented growth  of  the  city,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  magnitude  of  the  dis- 
aster, it  may  not  be  deemed  inopportune 
if  we  recur  to  her  earlier  history,  and 
trace  her  progress,  step  by  step,  from 
small  beginnings  until  she  attained  her 
late  commanding  position  —  the  fourth 
city  in  point  of  population,  and  the 
third  city  in  point  of  commercial  im- 
portance, in  the  United  States. 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


As  early  as  1672,  the  French  Jesuits 
had  explored  and  mapped  the  whole  of 
Lake  Superior,  and  the  upper  portion 
of  Lake  Michigan  —  then  known  as 
Lac  des  Illinois —  as  far  south  as  Green 
Bay.  They  had  established  themselves 
at  various  points,  among  which  were 
the  Mission  de  Ste.  Marie  de  Sault; 
Mission  du  St.  Esprit,  at  La  Pointe ; 
Mission  de  St.  Fr.  Xavier,  at  the  head 
of  Green  Bay ;  and  the  Mission  of  St. 
Ignace,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Michigan, 
nearly  opposite  Mackinac,  on  the  north 
shore  of  the  lake.*  At  that  time  the 
English  colonists  skirted  the  Atlantic 
Coast  from  Florida  to  Nova  Scotia, 
without  penetrating  far  in  the  interior. 
Elliot,  in  his  missionary  zeal,  had  ex- 
plored only  so  far  as  Natick,  six  miles 
out  of  Boston ;  the  Connecticut  Val- 
ley was  still  unoccupied. 

Among  these  Jesuit  missionaries  was 
James  Marquette,  a  man  of  high  cul- 
ture but  of  meek  and  lowly  disposition, 
whose  name  is  indelibly  engraven  in 
the  annals  of  the  Northwest.  He  was 
attached  to  the  Mission  of  St.  Ignace. 
In  his  intercourse  with  the  savage 
tribes,  he  had  heard  of  the  existence 
of  a  great  river  to  the  west,  whose 
banks  were  bordered  by  vast  prairies 
over  which  roamed  countless  herds  of 
buffalo.  On  the  iyth  of  May,  1673,  ac- 
companied by  Joliet,  with  two  canoes 
and  five  voyageurs,  he  embarked  on  a 
voyage  to  explore  the  great  unknown 
river.  Coasting  along  Green  Bay  to  its 
head,  then  ascending  the  Fox  River 
and  descending  the  Wisconsin,  one 
month  after  starting  he  beheld  the 
mighty  current  of  the  Mississippi,  on 
which  he  floated  as  far  south  as  Arkan- 
sas. In  returning,  he  paused  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois,  and  instead  of 
proceeding  on  to  the  Wisconsin,  as- 
cended the  latter  stream,  taking  the 
Des  Plaines  branch,  by  which  he 
passed  by  an  easy  portage  to  the  Chi- 

*  To  those  interested  in  the  early  history  of  the 
Northwest,  we  commend  the  map  entitled  "  Lac 
Svperievr  et  avtres  lievx  ou  sont  les  Missions  des 
Peres  de  la  Compaigne  de  lesvs  comprises  sovs  le 
le  nom  Dovtaovacs,"  published  at  Paris,  1672. 


cago  River.  Having  reached  Lake 
Michigan,  he  coasted  along  the  west 
shore,  and  thus  reached,  after  a  canoe 
voyage  of  over  2,500  miles,  the  point 
of  his  embarkation. 

So  cordial  had  been  the  reception  of 
the  good  father  among  the  tribes  in 
habiting  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  that 
he  resolved  to  return  and  erect 
among  them  the  standard  of  the  Cross; 
and  the  next  autumn  (1674)  he  ar- 
ranged to  carry  out  his  design.  It  was 
late  in  October  when,  with  a  canoe  and 
two  voyageurs,  he  embarked.  Reach- 
ing the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River,  he 
ascended  that  stream  for  about  two 
leagues,  where  he  built  a  hut  and 
passed  the  winter.  Game  was  abun- 
dant ;  and  from  his  hut,  buffalo,  deer, 
and  turkeys  were  shot.  Originally  of 
a  frail  constitution,  this  voyage  had 
told  fearfully  upon  the  good  father. 
Cold  winds  swept  the  lake,  and  not- 
withstanding the  camp  fires  by  night, 
his  limbs  were  chilled.  A  hemorrhage, 
to  which  he  was  subject,  returned  with 
increased  violence;  and  he  predicted 
that  this  voyage  would  be  his  last. 
With  the  return  of  spring,  his  disease 
relented;  when  he  descended  to  the 
Indian  village  below  Ottawa,  and  there 
celebrated  among  the  barbaric  tribes 
the  mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith. 
A  few  days  after  Easter,  he  returned  to 
Lake  Michigan,  where  he  embarked  for 
Mackinac,  passing  along  the  great 
sand-dunes  which  line  its  head,  and 
thence  along  its  eastern  margin  to 
where  a  small  stream  discharges  itself 
into  the  great  reservoir,  south  of  the 
promontory  known  as  the  "Sleeping 
Bear."  Marquette  was  so  far  debilita- 
ted that  he  stretched  himself  in  the 
bottom  of  the  canoe,  and  took  little 
heed  of  what  was  passing.  The  warm 
breath  of  spring  revived  him  not ;  and 
the  song  of  birds  fell  listless  upon  his 
ears.  Here  he  desired  to  land ;  and 
his  attendants  bore  him  tenderly  to  the 
shore,  and  raised  over  him  a  bark  hut. 
He  was  aware  that  his  time  was  come. 
Calmly  he  gave  directions  as  to  his 
mode  of  burial ;  craved  the  forgiveness 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


of  his  companions,  if  in  aught  he  had 
offended  them;  administered  to  them 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper; 
and  thanked  God  that  he  was  permit- 
ted to  die  in  the  wilderness,  a  witness 
of  His  loving  kindness.  This  event 
happened  May  18,  1675. 

Upon  the  banks  of  a  stream  which 
bears  his  name,  they  dug  his  grave  and 
consigned  his  remains  to  the  earth ;  but 
this  was  not  to  be  his  final  resting- 
place.  A  year  or  two  afterwards  a 
party  of  Ottawas  disinterred  his  re- 
mains, placed  them  in  a  birchen  box, 
and  conveyed  them  to  St.  Ignace, 
where,  amid  the  priests,  neophytes,  and 
traders  assembled  to  do  them  honor, 
they  were  consigned  to  a  place  beneath 
the  floor  of  the  chapel  in  which  the  good 
missionary  had  so  often  officiated. 

Thus,  then,  Marquette  was  the  first 
white  occupant  of  Chicago,  and  that 
occupancy  dates  back  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  ago.  But  for  the  calamity 
which  has  befallen  her,  it  would  be 
proper  for  Chicago,  in  1873,  to  celebrate 
the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  her 
discovery,  with  bonfires  and  illumina- 
tions, and  other  evidences  of  public 
rejoicing ;  to  go  to  St.  Ignace  and 
gather  up  and  transport,  with  pious 
care,  the  ashes  of  Marquette,  and  erect 
over  them  the  most  elaborate  mauso- 
leum.* 

La  Salle  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
Marquette.  Late  in  the  fall  of  1670, 
in  four  canoes,  he  passed  the  mouth  of 
the  Chicago  River,  circled  the  head  of 
the  lake,  and  landed  at  St.  Joseph,  on 
the  opposite  shore,  whence  he  ascended 
that  stream  to  what  is  now  South  Bend ; 
and  by  the  portage  of  the  Kankakee, 
then  called  Theakiki,  or  Hankiki,  he 
entered  the  Illinois  Valley.  In  the  fall 
of  1 68 1,  he  passed  by  the  Chicago 

*  The  name  "  Chicago  "  is  a  modified  spelling  of 
"  Chekagou  "  ;  but  this  name  was  applied  to  a  dif- 
ferent stream  from  that  of  the  Chicago  River.  In 
the  map  by  Franquelin  (1684)  of  "  La  Salle's  Col- 
ony on  the  Illinois,"  the  present  Chicago  River  is 
called  "  Cheagoumeinan  "  ;  and  "  Chekagau  "  is 
applied  to  a  small  stream  heading  near  the  lake 
and  entering  the  Des  Plaines  or  "  Peanghichia  " 
River,  above  the  debouchure  of  the  Kankakee,  and 
corresponding  with  Jackson  Creek. 


portage  en  route  to  the  Mississippi ; 
and  while  this  portage  was  repeatedly 
used  by  his  followers,  no  permanent 
settlement  was  made  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river. 

By  the  treaty  of  Fontainbleau,  in 
1762,  the  vast  territory  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi passed  into  the  possession  of 
the  British  Government ;  and  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  July  4, 
1776,  transferred  this  country  to  the 
dominion  of  the  United  States.  In 
1804,  the  Government  established  a 
military  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chi- 
cago River,  which  was  dignified  by  the 
name  of  Fort  Dearborn ;  and  a  single 
company  of  infantry  was  deemed  a 
sufficient  garrison.  In  1812,  on  the 
declaration  of  war,  the  Indians  gath- 
ered about  the  fort  and  showed  unmis- 
takable signs  of  hostility.  Captain 
Heald,  then  in  command,  foreseeing 
that  his  supplies  might  be  cut  off,  and 
availing  himself  of  discretionary  or- 
ders, undertook  to  retreat  with  his  little 
command  to  Detroit,  three  hundred 
miles  distant ;  but  he  had  proceeded 
less  than  two  miles  along  the  lake 
shore,  when  he  was  ambuscaded,  and 
only  three  of  his  party  escaped  mas- 
sacre. 

In  1816,  the  fort  was  rebuilt  and  gar- 
risoned by  two  companies  of  infantry. 
It  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  Black - 
Hawk  War,  in  1832,  that  the  region  of 
Northern  Illinois  and  Southern  Wis- 
consin was  thrown  open  to  settlement. 
Emigration  soon  began  to  flow  in  with 
an  uninterrupted  tide,  which  has  con- 
tinued up  to  the  present  hour.  A  ham- 
let clustered  around  Fort  Dearborn, 
which  took  the  name  of  Chicago.  As 
late  as  1837,  flour  was  shipped  from 
Ohio  to  supply  the  infant  settlement ; 
and  in  1839  ti16  first  shipment  of 
wheat,  amounting  to  i  ,678  bushels,  was 
sent  from  this  port,  which  is  now  the 
world's  great  market  for  breadstuffs  and 
provisions.  In  1840,  Chicago  contained 
a  population  of  4,470  ;  in  1850,  28,269  '< 
in  1860,  109,263;  in  1870,  298,977; 
and  at  the  time  of  the  fire  hardly  less 
than  350,000  souls. 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


Nothing  could  have  been  more  unin- 
viting than  the  original  site  of  the  city. 
Ridges  of  shifting  sands  bordered  the 
lake  shore ;  while  inland,  and  stretch- 
ing beyond  the  range  of  vision,  was  a 
morass  supporting  a  rank  growth  of 
blue -joint  grass,  with  here  and  there  a 
clump  of  jack  oaks.  Through  this 
morass  wound  a  sluggish  river,  only 
flushed  by  the  spring  and  fall  freshets; 
and  adjacent  to  its  banks  were  pools 
of  water,  which  were  the  resort  of  wild 
fowl.  The  river's  mouth  was  barred 


by  shifting  sands,  but  the  bar  once 
passed,  deep  water  was  found  within. 
For  a  mile  its  course  was  east  and  west, 
when  it  branched  into  two  forks,  run- 
ning northerly  and  southerly.  This 
stream,  so  uninviting,  forms  the  pres- 
ent harbor  of  Chicago,  and  separates 
the  city  into  three  divisions — the  North, 
South,  and  West.  The  watershed  be- 
tween Lake  Michigan  and  the  Des- 
Plaines  River — a  tributary  of  the  Illinois 
—  was  only  eight  feet  in  height;  and 
during  flood  time,  communication  could 


FIRST  HOUSE  BUILT  IN  CHICAGO — BY  JOHN  KINZIE,  IN  181$,  ON  LAKE  SHORE,  NORTH  OF  RIVER. 


be  made  in  a  canoe  without  disem- 
barking. A  well-marked  channel  can 
be  traced,  through  which,  up  to  com- 
paratively recent  times,  a  portion  of 
the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  escaped 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Such  were  the 
topographical  features  of  Chicago  forty 
years  ago.  How  wonderfully  have  they 
been  transformed !  The  city  com- 
menced its  growth  upon  the  original 
surface  ;  and  so  saturated  was  the  soil 
with  water,  that  cellars  and  basements 
were  from  necessity  dispensed  with. 
The  streets  in  many  places  presented 
an  oozy  mass  of  mud,  and  here  poles 
were  thrust  down  bearing  placards 
"  no  bottom,"  The  more  frequented 
thoroughfares  were  planked,  and  when 
driven  over  the  planks  were  subjected 


to  a  churning  motion  which  caused  the 
ooze  to  spurt  up  through  the  crevices. 
The  gutters  at  the  sides  were  filled  with 
stagnant  water,  whose  surface  was  cov- 
ered with  a  green  scum,  the  appropri- 
ate nidus  of  the  cholera  and  other 
pestilential  diseases.  So  fatal  were 
these  pestilences,  and  so  multifarious 
their  forms,  that  medical  terms  were 
exhausted,  and  "canal"  cholera  was 
applied  to  designate  a  peculiar  and 
fatal  form  of  that  disease;  and  the 
victims  were  left  by  the  roadsides  near 
Bridgeport,  where  they  remained  for  a 
long  time  festering  in  the  sun,  —  the 
citizens  being  afraid  to  approach  the 
corpses,  lest  the  disease  be  communi- 
cated to  their  persons,  and  thus  propa- 
gated through  the  city. 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


The  first  impulse  communicated  to 
Ihe  growth  of  Chicago,  was  the  passage, 
by  the  State  Legislature,  of  an  act, 
January  i8th,  1825,  for  the  construction 
of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal; 
and  in  aid  thereof,  of  the  passage  of 
an  act  of  Congress,  Llnrch  cd,  1827, 
granting  to  the  State  alternate  sections 
of  the  public  lands,  embracing  a  zone 
of  six  miles  wide  on  either  side  of  the 
projected  canal;  but  it  was  not  until 
1836  that  the  work  was  entered  upon, 
nor  was  it  completed  until  1848. 

In  1831,  Cook  County,  embracing 
Chicago,  was  organized.  In  the  spring 
of  1833,  Congress  made  an  appropria- 
tion of  $30,000  for  improving  the  har- 
bor; and  that  same  year  a  post  office 
was  established — John  S.  C.  Hogan, 
who  occupied  a  "variety  store"  on 
South  Water  street,  being  the  first 
postmaster.  The  mail  was  brought 
weekly,  on  horseback,  from  Niles, 
Michigan.  That  same  year  witnessed 
the  cession  of  all  the  lands  in  Northern 
Illinois,  amounting  to  about  20,000,000 
acres,  by  the  Pottawotamies,  who  re- 
moved farther  westward.  Chicago  was 
incorporated  as  a  town  by  a  nearly 
unanimous  vote ;  and  to  show  the 
number  of  voters,  it  may  be  said  that 
twelve  were  in  favor  of  and  only  one 
against  the  proposed  measure. 

In  1834,  the  poll  list  of  citizens 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  eleven, 
and  the  amount  of  taxes  reached  forty- 
eight  dollars  and  ninety  cents;  but  this 
being  inadequate  for  municipal  pur- 
poses, the  trustees  resolved  to  borrow 
sixty  dollars  for  the  opening  and  im- 
provement of  streets.  The  next  year, 
however,  grown  bolder  by  the  success 
of  the  former  loan,  the  treasurer,  "  on 
the  faith  of  the  president  and  trustees," 
was  authorized  to  borrow  $2,000,  at  a 
rate  of  interest  not  exceeding  ten  per 
cent.,  and  payable  in  twelve  months. 

In  1837,  Chicago  became  incorpo- 
rated as  a  city,  and  William  B.  Ogden 
was  chosen  as  its  first  mayor.  From 
that  time  to  the  present,  the  history  of 
thje  growth  of  the  city  becomes  too 
complex  to  be  traced,  except  in  a  com- 


prehensive form.  A  series  of  public 
improvements  was  devised  and  exe- 
cuted, mainly  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  Chcsbrough,  as  City  Engineer, 
which  made  Chicago  one  of  the  pleas- 
antest  and  healthiest  cities  in  the  Union. 
A  system  of  sewage  was  established 
for  underground  drainage,  which  re- 
quired that  the  original  surface  in  many 
places  be  raised  eight  feet.  This  change 
of  grade  involved  the  necessity  of  rais- 
ing many  of  the  largest  structures  in 
those  streets,  adjacent  to  the  river.  Such 
structures  as  the  Tremont  and  Briggs 
Houses,  the  Marine  Bank,  and  in  fact 
entire  blocks,  were  lifted  up,  with  little 
or  no  interruption  to  business.  Thus 
the  city  became  thoroughly  drained, 
the  houses  admitted  of  cellars,  and  the 
streets  became  dry  and  solid. 

The  mouth  of  the  river,  in  1816,  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  Colonel 
Long,  of  the  Topographical  Engineers, 
was  at  Madison  Street.  It  was  a  rippling 
stream,  ten  or  fifteen  yards  wide,  and 
only  a  few  inches  deep,  flowing  over  a 
bed  of  sand.  In  the  summer  of  1833, 
the  Government  entered  upon  the  im- 
provement of  the  harbor,  or  rather 
commenced  the  construction  of  one. 
The  north  pier  was  extended  a  short 
distance  lakeward,  a  lighthouse  estab- 
lished, and  an  embankment  thrown 
across  the  old  channel  to  divert  the 
water  to  the  new  course.  An  unusual 
freshet  during  the  next  spring  tore  out 
the  sand  and  left  a  practicable  chan- 
nel into  the  river.  The  pier  has  from 
time  to  time  been  extended,  until  now 
it  reaches  a  distance  of  about  three 
thousand  feet ;  and  yet  the  problem  of 
getting  rid  of  the  shifting  sands  thrown 
up  by  every  northeaster,  and  leaving 
an  open  ship  channel  into  the  river,  is 
far  from  being  solved. 

The  river  and  its  branches  afford 
nearly  fifteen  miles  of  wharfage  in  the 
heart  of  the  city ;  and  the  Dock  Com- 
pany, on  the  North  Side,  along  the 
lake  shore,  have  constructed  works 
which  add  immensely  to  the  harbor 
accommodations.  The  dock  line  is 
seven  and  one -half  feet  above  low 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


water  mark.  Thus,  then,  a  tideless 
river  and  a  nearly  level  plain  afford 
almost  unequalled  facilities  for  receiv- 
ing and  distributing  the  immense 
freights  which  accumulate  here. 

To  supply  the  city  with  pure  water, 
Lake  Michigan  was  resorted  to  as  an 
unfailing  reservoir.  In  the  old  works 
established  on  the  North  Side,  the  wa- 
ter was  taken  out  near  the  shore.  There 
were  times .  when  the  current  of  the 
river,  reeking  with  the  sewage  of  the 
city,  the  offal  of  slaughter  houses,  and 
the  slops  of  distilleries,  was  borne 
against  this  portion  of  the  shore ;  and 
the  drainage  from  the  cemetery,  popu- 


lous with  the  dead,  was  also  in  this 
direction.  Besides,  during  the  winter, 
multitudes  of  small  fishes  would  collect 
about  the  strainers  and  gain  admission 
to  the  pipes,  so  that  when  the  faucets 
at  the  houses  were  turned,  out  would 
come  scores  of  minnows,  some  alive 
and  some  in  various  stages  of  decom- 
position. A  violent  northeaster  would 
so  roil  the  water  that  it  became  neces- 
sary to  filter  it.  To  obviate  all  these 
inconveniences,  the  novel,  but  as  the 
result  proved  perfectly  practicable, 
idea  was  conceived  of  drawing  the 
water  through  a  tunnel  from  the  lake 
two  miles  distant  from  the  shore.  A 


BUILDINGS   OF   THE    CHICAGO    WATER    WORKS — KRKCTKD    1867. 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


shaft  was  sunk  on  the  land  side  to  the 
depth  of  twenty -six  feet,  and  a  "  crib," 
pentagonal  in  form,  forty  feet  in  height 
and  ninety -eight  and  one -half  feet  in 
diameter,  was  floated  to  the  site  in  the 
lake  and  there  anchored.  It  was  then 
filled  with  stone  and  made  to  settle  to 
its  bed.  An  iron  cylinder,  nine  feet  in 
diameter,  occupies  the  centre  of  the 
structure,  and  penetrates  from  the  water- 
line  to  the  depth  of  sixty -four  feet,  and 
thirty -one  feet  below  the  lake  bed, 
where  the  tunnel  commences.  This  is 
all  the  way  excavated  in  a  tough  blue 
clay  which  offered  no  serious  obstacles 
in  the  progress  of  the  work.  Its  ^di- 
mensions  are  five  feet  two  inches  in 
heighth,  by  five  feet  wide ;  and  it  is 
lined  with  two  courses  of  brick  laid  in 
cement.  Its  capacity,  under  a  head  of 
two  feet,  is  19,000,000  gallons  daily; 
under  a  head  of  eight  feet,  38,000,000 ; 
and  under  a  head  of  eighteen  feet, 
57,000,000.  A  tower,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  in  height,  contains  an  iron 
cylinder  three  feet  in  diameter,  through 
which  the  water  is  forced  by  powerful 
machinery,  and  thence  by  its  own 
pressure  is  distributed  through  the 
mains  to  the  different  parts  of  the  city. 
Thus,  at  an  expense  of  about  two  and 
one -half  millions  of  dollars,  Chicago 
has  secured  an  ample  supply  of  water, 
always  pure,  cool,  and  sparkling. 

The  river,  as  we  haTre  seen,  was 
originally  in  the  nature  «.'f  a  lagoon 
rather  than  a  running  stream.  Into 
this  river  was  discharged  one  -  half  of 
the  sewage  of  the  city,  and  upon  its 
banks  were  numerous  packing  houses 
and  distilleries,  whose  refuse  added  to 
the  pestiferous  contents.  The  color  of 
its  water  varied  all  the  way  from  inky 
blackness  to  rich  chocolate  brown ; 
and  the  nasal  organs  had  no  difficulty 
in  recognizing  as  many  distinct  stenches 
as  Coleridge  did  in  the  River  Rhine  at 
Cologne.  To  remove  this  nuisance, 
which  had  become  unbearable,  the  city, 
under  authority  of  an  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature, passed  February  16,  1865,  pro- 
ceeded on  the  plan  of  cutting  down  the 
canal  for  twenty  -  six  miles  to  at  least 


six  feet  below  the  low  water-level  of 
the  lake.  This  plan  was  completed 
only  last  year,  at  a  cost  of  about 
$3,000,000 ;  and  a  current  of  pure  lake 
water  now  flows  through  the  city  and 
discharges  itself  into  the  Mississippi, 
through  the  Des  Plaines  and  Illinois 
rivers. 

The  intercourse  between  the  three 
divisions  of  the  city,  up  to  a  recent 
time,  had  been  effected  wholly  by 
swing -bridges,  which  at  intervals  of 
two  blocks  spanned  the  river,  whose 
average  width  is  less  than  two  hundred 
feet.  These  bridges  were  a  serious 
impediment  to  navigation ;  and  their 
almost  continuous  turning  proved  an 
equally  serious  impediment  to  vehicles 
and  pedestrians.  To  obviate  this  in- 
convenience, a  tunnel  was  constructed 
under  the  river  at  Washington  street, 
arched  for  two  hundred  and  ninety 
feet,  by  which  an  uninterrupted  com- 
munication was  established  between 
the  South  and  West  Divisions.  This 
tunnel  proved  so  satisfactory  that 
another  tunnel  was  constructed  under 
the  river  at  La  Salle  Street,  by  which  a 
similar  communication  was  established 
between  the  North  and  South  Divisions 
of  the  city. 

The  streets  of  Chicago  were  for  the 
most  part  laid  out  on  a  liberal  plan, 
which  admitted  of  sidewalks  ten  feet 
wide  and  then  of  a  grass  plat  in  front 
of  the  residences  for  the  planting  of 
trees  and  shrubbery,  with  ample  space 
for  vehicles  in  the  centre.  Twenty 
years  ago,  to  a  stranger  from  an  East- 
ern city  they  seemed  unnecessarily 
wide ;  but  it  was  fortunate  that  this 
plan  had  been  adopted,  for  on  the  in- 
troduction of  the  horse  -  railway  —  the 
people's  mode  of  conveyance  —  it  was 
found  that  on  either  side  of  the  track 
there  was  room  for  two  teams  to  pass. 
In  the  improvement  of  the  streets,  the 
original  surface  was  found  to  be  ill- 
adapted  to  roadways :  the  soil  was 
either  sand  or  mud.  Plank  was  first 
resorted  to,  and  in  1854  twenty -seven 
miles  had  thus  been  laid ;  but  it  was 
found  that  with  a  mortar  foundation  and 


8 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


the  churning  process  performed  by  each 
loaded  vehicle  in  passing  over,  the 
planks  soon  formed  a  barrier  to  easy 
and  safe  locomotion.  Macadamising 
was  then  resorted  to  ;  but  the  rocks  in 
the  neighborhood,  being  limestone, 
while  they  bedded  themselves  and 
served  to  form  a  solid  foundation, 
crushed  under  the  action  of  loaded 
teams  and  gave  rise  to  intolerable 
clouds  of  dust.  The  same  objection 
applied  to  cobble-stones.  It  was  not 
until  a  system  of  drainage  was  estab- 
lished that  a  really  permanent  road- 
bed could  be  obtained.  As  far  back 
as  1856,  the  Nicolson  or  wooden  - 
block  pavement  was  introduced ;  the 
cleanest,  the  neatest,  and  the  least- 
noisy  of  all  of  the  devices  for  sustain- 
ing the  traffic  of  a  great  city. 

The  plat  of  the  city  with  its  several 
additions,  up  to  1 870,  occupied  a  space 
of  six  miles  long  and  a  little  more 
than  three  miles  broad.  Along  the  lake 
shore,  however,  the  houses  stretched 
almost  continuously  from  Hyde  Park 
to  Lake  View,  a  distance  of  more  than 
ten  miles.  In  the  area  thus  embraced, 
there  were  few  vacant  spaces  dedicated 
to  public  use.  To  remedy  this,  the 
boundaries  of  the  city  were  greatly  en- 
larged ;  tracts  of  land  were  secured  in 
the  three  divisions  of  the  city  for  park 
purposes,  which  were  connected  to- 
gether by  boulevards ;  systematic  plans 
of  landscape  gardening  were  vigorously 
entered  upon ;  and  the  citizens  antici- 
pated the  day,  by  no  means  remote, 
when  these  parks  would  become  favor- 
ite places  of  resort,  and  form  the  pride 
and  ornament  of  the  city. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  a  place  built 
up  so  rapidly  as  Chicago  had  been, 
should  present  a  somewhat  incongruous 
appearance.  The  pineries  of  the  north, 
which  here  found  their  principal  dis- 
tributing point,  afforded  materials  for 
cheap  and  rapid  construction.  The 
accessions  to  the  population  of  the  city 
in  the  early  stages  of  its  growth  ex- 
ceeded each  decade  six  fold,  while  in 
the  latter  stage  it  fell  little  short  of 
three.  The  population  thus  flowing  in 


required  shelter,  and  landlord  and 
tenant  alike  concurred,  the  one  in 
erecting  and  the  other  in  occupying, 
tenements  of  the  most  unsubstantial 
character.  It  is  singular  how  airy 
these  structures  were.  In  the  days  of 
our  boyhood,  passed  on  the  Atlantic 
Slope,  we  recollect  that  the  getting  to- 
gether of  the  materials  of  a  house  and 
framing  them,  was  a  labor  of  no  small 
magnitude.  There  were  to  be  the  sills, 
the  studding,  the  joists,  the  braces,  the 
rafters,  and  the  ridge-pole,  all  of  di- 
mension timber;  and  when  the  wholf- 
was  framed,  the  neighbors  were  called 
together,  and  with  spike -poles  the) 
carried  up  the  successive  sides.  To 
attend  a  "  raising ''  was  a  notable  event. 
But  house  -  building  in  Chicago  was  a 
very  different  affair.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  sills,  not  a  stick  of  timber 
entered  into  the  construction  which 
tasked  the  efforts  of  two  men  to  carry. 
These  structures  received  the  very  ap- 
propriate name  of  "  balloon  "  houses  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  the  greatest  superfi- 
cial contents  with  the  least  amount  of 
material.  As  business  increased  and 
more  massive  and  less  inflammable 
structures  were  required,  these  houses 
were  moved  to  the  less  populous  dis- 
tricts ;  and  the  streets  were  constantly 
obstructed  by  these  processions  of  old 
and  ricketty  tenements.  The  school  sec- 
tion, in  the  heart  of  the  city,  was  leased 
on  short  terms,  and  the  lessees  covered 
it  with  indifferent  wooden  buildings 
which  could  be  moved  off  on  the  expi- 
ration of  the  leases.  No  policy  could 
have  been  more  short-sighted,  so  far 
as  related  to  the  substantial  growth  of 
the  city  —  none  so  well  calculated  to 
bring  in  a  meagre  revenue.  Hence,  at 
an  early  day  Chicago  acquired  the 
sobriquet  of  "  Shantytown  ;  "  and  well 
did  she  deserve  that  appellation.  At 
the  date  of  the  fire  there  was  no  city  in 
Christendom  which  contained  such  a 
vast  mass  of  combustible  materials.  In 
European  cities  the  term  "  shin^> 
roof"  is  unknown,  and  partition  walia 
of  brick  are  universal  in  construction. 
Hence,  a  single  apartment  may  be 


A  GLANCE  A  T  CHICAGO 'S  HTSTOR  Y. 


burned  out,  but  the  idea  of  a  fire  ex- 
tending to  a  square  is  preposterous. 
Chicago,  throughout  her  whole  munici- 
pal history,  had  been  cursed  by  a 
Council  and  a  Board  of  Public  Works 
who,  through  ignorance  or  self-will, 
were  utterly  indifferent  to  the  ordinary 
precautions  against  wide  -  spread  -con- 
flagrations. They  placed  no  restric- 
tions on  the  erection  of  two -story 
wooden  buildings  in  the  most  valuable 
portions  of  the  city,  and  outside  of  a 
limited  area  the  taste  or  caprice  of  the 
landlord  could  be  indulged  without  any 
control  whatever.  The  cupola  of  the 
Court  House,  far  above  the  reach  of  the 
water  supply,  was  wood ;  and  while  the 
safes  and  vaults  of  every  bank  passed 
through  the  fiery  ordeal  comparatively 
unscathed,  the  records  of  every  town 
lot  and  farm,  and  of  every  judicial 


decision,  were  consumed  beyond  the 
power  of  recognition.  The  Water 
Works,  upon  which  the  salvation  of  the 
city  in  such  an  exigency  depended, 
were  roofed  with  combustible  materi- 
als, and  no  appliances  were  provided 
for  putting  out  a  fire.  These  events, 
the  happening  of  which  could  have 
-been  prevented  by  ordinary  precau- 
tions, argue  a  remissness  on  the  part 
of  the  public  authorities  amounting  to 
criminality. 

In  every  city  whose  origin  goes  back 
to  centuries,  very  many  portions  of  it 
will  be  found  to  have  been  rebuilt. 
This  process  had  been  entered  upon  in 
Chicago,  and  the  structures  in  the  busi- 
ness part  of  the  city,  for  the  most  part, 
were  of  enduring  materials  and  almost 
faultless  in  architectural  arrangement. 
Field,  I.eiter  &  Co.'s  store  was  a  more 


FIELD,    LETTER    &   CO.'S   STORE. 


10 


A  GLANCE  AT  CHICAGO'S  HISTORY. 


imposing  structure  than  Stewart's,  on 
Broadway;  the  Tribune  Building  was 
one  of  the  best  -  appointed  newspaper 
offices  in  the  world  ;  the  First  National 
Bank  Building,  the  Union  Building,  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Merchant's 
Insurance  Building,  Drake's  Block, 
Honore's  Block,  the  Pacific  Hotel,  the 
Palmer  House,  the  Bookseller's  Row, 
the  great  station  houses  of  the  Michi- 
gan Southern  and  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroads,  and  other  structures  which 
might  be  cited,  were  models  of  archi- 
tectural beauty.  But  the  Court  House, 
costly  as  a  structure,  was  an  architectu- 
ral abortion ;  and  every  citizen,  apart 
from  the  destruction  of  its  contents, 
must  rejoice  that  its  walls  are  ruined 
beyond  the  power  of  restoration.  The 
limestones  from  the  line  of  the  canal, 
the  olive  -  tinted  sandstones  of  North- 
ern Ohio,  and  the  red  sandstones  of 
Lake  Superior,  which  had  been  em- 
ployed in  the  facings  of  the  better  class 
of  structures,  gave  to  the  buildings  a 
warm  and  cheerful  tint,  not  to  be  seen 
in  any  other  city  in  America. 

Many  of  the  private  residences  on  the 
North  Side,  and  on  Michigan  and  Wa- 
bashA venues,  attracted  attention  by  rea- 
son of  their  good  taste  and  appropriate 
surroundings.  Side  by  side  with  such 
structures  were  to  be  seen  others  which 
would  fail  to  ornament  an  insignificant 
country  village.  With  the  best  flagging 
stone  on  the  line  of  the  canal,  and 
readily  accessible  to  the  city,  yet  in  the 
burnt  district  there  were  nearly  thirty 
miles  of  pine  sidewalks  which  in  the 
great  conflagration  became  excellent 
conductors  of  flame,  and  forced  the 


fleeing  inhabitants  to  betake  them- 
selves to  the  middle  of  the  streets. 
There  was  not,  to  our  knowledge,  a 
rod  of  brick  pavement  in  the  city.  The 
tallest  buildings,  and  of  comparatively 
incombustible  materials,  were  decora- 
ted with  heavy  wooden  cornices,  and 
roofed  with  shingles  or  a  coal  tar  cov- 
ering. The  river,  winding  through  the 
heart  of  the  city,  was  lined  with  im- 
mense lumber  -  yards,  coal  -  yards,  pla- 
ning-mills,  sash  -  factories,  and  other 
combustible  structures.  Private  greed, 
reflecting  itself  in  the  public  authori- 
ties, looked  only  to  the  present,  disre- 
garding those  precautionary  measures 
which  long  ago  were  adopted  by  every 
considerable  city  in  Christendom  to 
guard  against  the  effects  of  desolating 
fires.  The  cool-headed  residents  of 
Chicago,  then,  are  far  less  inclined  to 
attribute  this  overwhelming  catastrophe 
to  the  judgment  of  God  than  to  the 
folly  of  man.  When  human  agency 
lays  the  train  and  fires  the  match,  it 
evinces  an  overweening  confidence  in 
Divine  Providence  to  expect  that  it 
shall  intervene  to  prevent  the  explo- 
sion. Throughout  the  world's  history, 
natural  causes  have  been  succeeded  by 
natural  events ;  and  the  destruction  of 
Chicago  was  the  legitimate  result  of  the 
utter  disregard  of  all  precautionary 
measures  to  stay  the  progress  of  a  de- 
structive conflagration.  When  we  shall 
have  eliminated  from  this  grand  catas- 
trophe all  the  elements  chargeable  to 
private  greed  and  public  incompetency, 
there  will  be  left  little  or  nothing  to  be 
carried  to  the  account  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. .  W.  Foster. 


OUR  TRADE  AND   COMMERCE. 


ii 


OUR  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO  IN  WEALTH  AND  MATERIAL  PROSPERITY. 


THE  growth  of  Chicago,  in  all 
that  pertains  to  a  great  commer- 
cial metropolis,  presents  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  instance  of  rapid  and 
uninterrupted  progress  of  any  city  in 
the  world,  either  in  ancient  or  modern 
times.  Going  back  to  1830,  we  rind 
that  the  census  of  the  United  States 
gave  Chicago  a  total  population  of  only 
seventy  souls;  all,  or  nearly  all,  of 
whom  were  dependent  upon  the  gen- 
eral government,  which  had  established 
an  Indian  agency  at  this  point.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  this  insignificant 
nucleus  had  grown  within  one  genera- 
tion to  over  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  thousand,  as  shown  by  a  census 
taken  but  a  few  weeks  prior  to  the  great 
calamity,  the  question  presses  for  solu- 
tion —  By  what  magic  has  this  marvel- 
lous result  been  achieved?  What 
peculiar  combination  of  forces  or  cir- 
cumstances has  wrought  a  progress  so 
wonderful  and  so  entirely  unparal- 
lelled  ? 

While  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
city  has  drawn  largely  upon  the  best 
blood  and  most  vigorous  mental  capac- 
ities, not  only  of  our  own  country  but 
also  from  foreign  immigration,  and  to 
an  extent  that  has  made  it  a  city  rep- 
resenting by  its  people  natives  of 
almost  ever)'  town  and  hamlet  in  this 
country  and  of  Europe,  thus  consoli- 
dating into  one  homogeneous  citizen- 
ship, the  thought  and  enterprise  of 
many  and  widely  diversified  intellects 
and  educations,  still  all  these  advant- 
ages could  not  alone  produce  the  results 
that  have  been  manifest,  and  that  have 
challenged  the  attention  of  the  civil- 
ized world.  In  fact,  this  flood  of  emi- 
gration would  not  have  set  hithcrward 
but  for  advantages  of  a  permanent 
character  that  were  apparent  to  the 
observing  and  inquiring  mind.  The 
not  infrequent  reference,  both  at  home 
and  abroad  —  sometimes  in  candor  and 


sometimes  in  irony  —  to  the  spirit  of 
enterprise  and  perseverance  of  the 
people  of  Chicago,  has  to  some  extent 
it  may  be  feared  done  injustice  to  the 
peculiar  situation  and  business  facilities 
of  the  city.  Men,  however  gifted  in 
the  diversified  qualities  of  the  success- 
ful and  honorable  merchant,  cannot 
build  up  and  establish  trade  where  no 
trade  is  demanded  or  required  to  be 
done ;  and  especially  in  this  country 
men- must  seek  the  centres  of  business 
if  they  would  command  success  as 
merchants:  business  will  not  to  any 
great  extent  be  diverted  in  quest  of 
men.  It  is  because  Chicago  has  pos- 
sessed remarkable  advantages  for  the 
development  of  trade  and  commerce, 
that  the  remarkable  results,  now  mat- 
ters of  history,  have  been  attained. 

Any  review  of  the  Trade  and  Com- 
merce of  Chicago,  however  hasty  and 
imperfect,  would  be  essentially  incom- 
plete without  some  reference  to  the 
basis  of  that  trade,  and  the  reasons 
that  may  be  adduced  for  its  rapid 
growth  and  development.  First  of  all 
may  be  noted  the  broad  expanse  ot 
matchless  agricultural  territory,  dotted 
with  farm-houses,  villages,  and  cities, 
stretching  hundreds  of  miles  northward, 
westward,  and  southward,  all  more  or 
less  (and  the  major  part  of  it  entirely) 
dependent  upon  the  city,  both  as  a 
market  for  its  surplus  productions  and 
a  source  of  supply  for  those  necessaries 
and  luxuries  that  tend  to  make  life 
enjoyable,  and  that  are  produced  or 
manufactured  in  other  portions  of  this 
or  of  foreign  countries.  But  scarcely 
less  important  than  supply  and  demand, 
because  by  it  only  can  either  exist,  is 
the  means  of  speedy  transportation 
demanded  by  an  extended  commerce; 
and  this,  nature  and  art  have  supplied 
for  Chicago  to  a  degree  unequalled  by 
any  interior  city  in  the  land:  so  that, 
with  lines  by  water  or  by  rail,  the  city 


OUR  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE. 


has  come  to  be  a  centre  from  which 
diverge  in  all  directions  ample  avenues 
for  conducting  an  almost  limitless  traf- 
fic, and  through  the  influence  of  which 
the  commerce  of  the  city  has  been 
nourished  and  built  up,  and  by  means 
of  which  the  great  Northwest  has  be- 
come populous,  and  the  hitherto  cheer- 
less prairie  has  been  converted  into  a 
paradise  of  happiness,  prosperity,  and 
substantial  wealth. 

The  early  history  ot  the  Trade  and 
Commerce  of  Chicago  appears  to  have 
differed  but  little  from  that  of  most 
other  Western  settlements,  consisting 
at  first  of  a  small  Indian  traffic,  but 
gradually  growing  in  proportions  as  civ- 
ilization began  to  advance  into  the 
then  almost  trackless  prairie.  Early 
settlements  in  Illinois,  as  in  other 
Western  States,  was  confined  almost 
exclusively  to  a  proximity  to  such  rivers 
as  could  be  made  available  for  trans- 
portation ;  hence  what  of  trade  there ' 
was,  took  the  direction  towards  such 
markets  as  it  could  be  floated  to.  Chi- 
cago was  not  one  of  these,  for  while 
nature  had  provided  a  grand  and  free 
highway  for  commerce  from  Chicago 
to  the  eastward,  there  were  no  avenues 
for  it  penetrating  the  interior,  until  they 
were  created  by  the  necessities  of  the 
situation.  For  the  first  eighteen  years 
of  its  settlement,  the  only  trade  of  Chi- 
cago was  such  as  it  drew  from  the  im- 
mediately adjoining  country,  with  a 
limited  traffic  in  such  commodities  of 
actual  and  pressing  necessity  as  were 
demanded  by  the  settlers  at  a  distance 
of  one  hundred  miles.  All  farm  prod- 
ucts were  sold,  when  sold  at  all,  at 
comparatively  low  prices;  and  the  en- 
tire product  of  a  wagon  -  load  of  the 
most  valuable  available  surplus  of  the 
farmer,  when  converted  into  such  arti- 
cles as  he  must  buy,  was  scarcely  suffi- 
cient to  reward  him  for  the  time  spent 
in  effecting  the  exchange,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  labor  and  capital  employed 
upon  his  farm  in  its  production.  But 
notwithstanding  the  difficulties  and 
embarrassments  of  both  the  producer 
and  the  merchant,  the  city  had  in  1848 


increased  in  population  to  twenty  thous- 
and, and  the  taxable  value  of  its  real 
and  personal  estate,  which  in  1840 
was  less  than  one  million  of  dollars, 
had  risen  to  six  million  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Numerous  wholesale 
establishments  for  the  sale  of  all  kinds 
of  merchandise  were  in  successsful  op- 
eration, and  already  the  trade  in  cereals 
had  grown  to  respectable  proportions. 
The  attention  of  the  State  had  at  an 
early  day  been  drawn  to  the  advant- 
ages of  connecting  the  waters  of  Lake 
Michigan  with  those  of  the  Illinois 
River;  and  under  liberal  appropria- 
tions of  the  public  lands  by  the  general 
government  in  aid  of  the  work,  the 
construction  of  a  canal  from  Chicago 
to  La  Salle,  the  head  of  steamboat 
navigation  on  the  Illinois  River,  had 
been  in  progress  for  a  number  of  years. 
After  protracted  delays,  incident  to  the 
embarrassed  financial  condition  of  the 
State,  this  great  work  was  completed, 
and  opened  for  traffic  in  the  spring  of 
1848.  A  new  era  in  the  commercial 
prosperity  of  the  young  city  now  dawn- 
ed upon  it ;  and  with  the  rapid  settling 
and  development  of  the  territory  con- 
tiguous to  this  new  line  of  transit,  and 
the  facilities  it  gave  for  communication 
with  the  whole  Mississippi  Valley,  there 
sprang  up  a  greatly  enlarged  trade, 
and  an  increased  confidence  in  the 
stability  and  future  greatness  of  the 
city.  With  the  cheapened  inland 
transportation,  was  inaugurated  on  a 
largely  increased  scale  the  trade  in 
lumber,  which  has  from  then  till  now 
exhibited  a  uniformity  of  growth  scarce- 
ly less  marked  and  noticeable  than 
that  in  breadstuffs  and  provisions. 
Nature  has  seemed  to  especially  desig- 
nate the  banks  of  the  little  bayou  on 
which  man  has  built  Chicago  as  a 
proper  and  necessary  place  for  the  ex- 
change of  commodities;  for  at  this 
point,  better  than  any  other,  can  be 
united  the  different  modes  of  trans- 
portation best  adapted  to  the  convey- 
ance of  those  articles  of  commerce  most 
largely  produced  or  required  by  the 
people  in  whose  interest  the  exchanges 


OUR  TRADE  AND   COMMERCE. 


are  made.  Here  meet  for  exchange 
the  wheat,  corn  and  stock  of  the  farm- 
er, and  the  product  of  the  almost  ex- 
haustless  forests  of  the  peninsula  of 
Michigan;  the  latter  comparatively 
valueless  but  for  the  demand  from  the 
vast  and  fertile  prairie  lands,  where 
there  was  scarce  a  native  tree  to  break 
the  desert -like  monotony,  and  which 
in  turn,  but  for  the  available  supply  of 
this  building  material,  would  be  subject 
to  an  expense  for  a  substitute  that 
would  greatly  reduce  their  value.  Thus 
each  is  dependent  upon  the  other,  and 
each  by  aid  of  the  other  has  come  to , 
be  thriving  and  prosperous — both 
meantime  very  materially  aiding  in 
the  growth  and  advancement  of  the 
city  through  which  the  exchanges  have 
been  made. 

The  introduction  of  railroads,  at  a 
later  but  not  distant  day,  was  but  the 
further  development  of  transportation 
facilities,  the  necessity  and  advantages 
of  which  were  made  strikingly  apparent, 
by  the  acknowledged  benefit  resulting 
from  the  completion  of  the  canal  line. 
The  first  projected  line  —  the  original 
Galena  and  Chicago  Union  Railroad, 
now  a  part  of  the  consolidated  Chicago 
and  Northwestern  Railway, — was  in 
its  inception  and  during  all  its  separate 
corporate  existence  under  the  control, 
in  all  respects,  of  citizens  of  Chicago ; 
and  although  financial  aid  in  its  con- 
struction and  equipment  was  sought 
and  obtained  of  Eastern  capitalists,  it 
was  always  essentially  a  monument  to 
the  enterprise  and  faith  of  a  few  noble 
names  of  Chicago's  early  citizens.  This 
line  was,  after  hard  struggles,  opened 
to  the  Fox  River,  some  forty  miles  from 
the  city,  in  1850;  and  although  poorly 
equipped,  it  soon  demonstrated  the 
fact  that  although  not  furnishing  as 
cheap  a  means  of  transit  as  water 
routes,  it  required  but  the  construction 
of  sufficient  lines  of  railroad  to  make 
the  great  State  of  Illinois  a  very  gar- 
den for  production,  and  the  home  of  a 
dense  population.  Other  lines,  which 
cannot  here  be  alluded  to  in  detail, 
were  speedily  projected  and  built ;  un- 


til, within  a  marvellously  short  space 
of  time,  the  city  found  itself  the  centre 
of  a  system  of  railways  diverging  in 
every  direction,  all  doing  a  prosperous 
and  increasing  business,  eminently 
satisfactory  to  their  share -holders,  and 
conferring  untold  blessings  upon  not 
only  the  communities  directly  inter- 
ested but  the  world  at  large.  It  may 
here  be  remarked,  that  although  every 
principal  line  centring  in  Chicago  has 
been  built  with  special  reference  to 
Chicago's  trade,  and  has  brought  with 
it  increased  commerce  to  the  city,  it 
has  not  been  necessary  to  pledge  the 
municipal  credit  or  tax  the  body  -  poli- 
tic one  dollar  in  aid  of  their  construc- 
tion, nor  has  the  accumulated  capital 
of  the  citizens  been  drawn  on  to  any 
great  extent  for  their  establishment. 
Chicago  lines  of  railway  have,  in  view 
of  the  wonderful  past  and  prospective 
growth  of  their  traffic,  been  so  emi- 
nently profitable  that  capital  from 
abroad  has  been  ever  ready  to  embark 
in  their  construction,  sometimes  even 
when  her  own  citizens  could  not  readily 
comprehend  the  necessity  or  prospec- 
tive profit  of  the  investment.  The  fact 
that  no  drain  of  this  kind  has  been 
necessary,  has  left  the  citizens  free  to 
invest  in  mercantile  or  other  enterprises 
of  a  local  character,  and  has  enabled 
them  to  meet  municipal  taxation  for 
the  extraordinary  improvements  neces- 
sary in  a  city  requiring  so  much  ex- 
penditure to  make  it  convenient  and 
enjoyable,  without  being  oppressively 
burdened. 

The  subject  of  railroads  may  not 
properly  be  dismissed  without  a  pass-, 
ing  allusion  to  the  great  trans -conti- 
nental lines  built  or  in  progress,  and 
their  effect  on  the  commerce  of  the 
city.  With  the  completion  of  the 
Union  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific  roads, 
was  demonstrated  the  fact  that  for  the 
trade  between  the  Atlantic  Slope  of  the 
United  States  and  the  East  Indies  and 
China,  this  route  presents  advantages 
over  every  other,  and  especially  so  for 
the  transportation  of  valuable  freight, 
such  as  teas,  silks,  and  the  like ;  and  a 


OUR  TRADE  AND   COMMERCE. 


large  and  growing  trade  was  at  once 
inaugurated  over  the  line,  which  has 
steadily  increased,  all  or  nearly  all 
passing  through  or  stopping  in  the  city 
of  Chicago.  Our  own  merchants  im- 
port largely  via  San  Francisco,  and 
find  great  satisfaction  in  the  prompt- 
ness with  which  they  are  enabled  to 
receive  their  consignments,  and  the 
very  favorable  comparison  they  can 
institute  between  the  present  and  the 
old  way  of  receiving  this  class  of  goods. 
The  finger  of  destiny  to-day  strongly 
points  to  Chicago  as  the  great  distribut- 
ing-point for  all  Asiatic  goods  con- 
sumed in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  With 
the  early  completion  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad,  a  remarkably  rich  and 
inviting  territory  will  be  opened  to  the 
emigrant,  and  in  addition  very  greatly- 
increased  facilities  for  the  Pacific  trade 
will  result.  That  Chicago  may,  with 
its  numerous  favorable  connections, 
reap  great  benefit  therefrom,  is  not 
doubted  by  the  careful  observer  of  the 
course  of  trade.  Already  the  trade 
with  the  mining  regions  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  is  very  large,  and  rapidly 
increasing.  This  of  itself  is  of  great 
value  to  our  city,  hardly  appreciated  by 
the  mass  of  the  people  not  directly  in- 
terested or  fully  informed  in  regard  to  it. 
Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  ad- 
vantages to  the  Trade  and  Commerce 
of  Chicago  resulting  from  her  other 
means  of  communication  with  the 
world,  it  must  be  admitted  that  her 
crowning  glory  as  a  commercial  centre 
is  the  great  highway  provided  by  God 
himself  for  the  free  passage  of  her 
shipping  on  the  great  chain  of  lakes, 
one  of  the  principal  of  which  stretches 
its  magnificent  proportions  before  the 
eyes  of  her  citizens,  and  by  its  pure 
and  invigorating  breezes  brings  health 
and  joy  to  all  within  their  influence. 
Without  the  aid  of  this  means  of  trans- 
portation, her  warehouses  would  be- 
come overburdened  and  choked,  and 
her  railroads  could  not  be  relieved  of 
their  enormous  tonnage ;  in  fact,  but 
for  this  natural  highway,  no  city  would 
exist  where  now  is  so  much  of  com- 


mercial life  and  varied  industrial  ac- 
tivity. But  few,  even  of  our  commer- 
cial community,  are  fully  aware  of  the 
extent  of  our  lake  commerce ;  and 
many  will  be  surprised  at  the  statement 
that  our  Custom  House  returns  show 
very  much  the  largest  marine  business 
of  any  in  the  country.  The  compara- 
tive statement  of  the  different  customs 
districts  is  not  now  at  hand  ;  but  such 
was  an  official  statement  promulgated 
within  the  last  few  months.  The  num- 
ber of  entries  of  arrivals  at  our  Custom 
House  during  the  season  of  navigation 
for  1870,  was  12,739  vessels;  and  of 
clearances  during  the  same  time,  12,433 
vessels.  The  navigation  of  the  lakes, 
though  running  through  but  about 
seven  months  of  the  year,  is  the  grand, 
safety-valve  by  which  all  rates  of 
transportation  eastward  are  regulated, 
and  by  means  of  it  nearly  all  our  lum- 
ber and  vastly  the  largest  share  of  our 
farm  products  are  moved,  the  former 
to  and  the  latter  from  the  city. 

Passing  from  theories  of  causes 
touching  the  wonderful  growth  of  the 
Trade  and  Commerce  of  the  city,  and 
the  means  by  which  these  have  been 
developed,  a  brief  reference  to  figures 
representing  the  facts  in  the  past  his- 
tory of  the  city  may  not  be  inappropri- 
ate. Recognizing  the  agricultural  in- 
terests of  the  West  as  the  basis  of  all 
our  commercial  importance  and  pros- 
perity, the  trade  in  the  products  of  the 
farm  will  be  first  alluded  to.  The  first 
shipment  of  grain  eastward  f.om  Chi- 
cago occurred  in  1838,  and  consisted 
of  seventy -eight  bushels  of  wheat. 
This  shipment  was  somewhat  experi- 
mental in  its  character,  and  no  more 
was  forwarded  until  the  next  season. 
For  several  years  subsequent,  large 
quantities  of  flour  were  received  in  the 
city  from  New  York  State  and  Ohio, 
for  local  consumption  ;  so  that  probably 
not  until  1842  was  there  any  balance 
of  trade  in  favor  of  Chicago.  In  1845 
the  shipments  of  wheat,  and  flour  re- 
duced to  wheat  (and  in  all  the  figures 
following  flour  will  be  treated  as  re- 
duced to  wheat),  exceeded  1,000,000 


OUR  TRADE  AND   COMMERCE. 


bushels.  In  1848,  the  year  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal, 
the  grain  shipments  exceeded  3,000,000 
bushels.  In  1852,  when  the  influence 
of  advancing  lines  of  railroads  began 
to  be  felt,  the  shipments  reached  near 
6,000,000  bushels.  From  this  time  for- 
ward, the  traffic  assumed  most  remark- 
able proportions,  reaching  in  1856  an 
aggregate  shipment  of  over  21,000,000 
bushels;  and  in  1860,  the  year  preced- 
ing the  outbreak  of  civil  war,  the  grain 
shipments  of  Chicago  exceeded  3 1 ,000,- 
ooo  bushels.  During  the  next  five  years, 
the  annual  shipments  ranged  from 
46,000,000  to  56,000,000  bushels.  In 
1866  it  amounted  to  65,486,323  bushels; 
since  which  time  it  has  been  somewhat 
less.  In  1870  the  shipments  aggregated 
54,745,903  bushels,  the  least  since  1865 
—  the  article  of  wheat  in  the  grain 
being  the  largest  of  any  previous  year ; 
while  in  corn,  owing  to  a  partial  failure 
of  the  crop,  the  shipments  had  fallen 
to  less  than  any  of  the  previous  ten 
years  except  1864. 

The  prospect  for  the  business  of 
1871,  up  to  the  time  of  Chicago's  great 
disaster,  was  of  a  most  flattering  char- 
acter, and  promised  for  the  year  to  be 
larger  in  breadstuffs  than  ever  before. 
The  shipments  from  January  ist  to 
October  ist  aggregated  over  55,000,000 
bushels,  being  fully  15,000,000  bushels 
in  excess  of  that  of  the  corresponding 
period  in  1870;  and  the  current  daily 
receipts  were  larger  than  ever  before  at 
the  same  time  in  the  season.  The 
stocks  of  grain  in  store  in  the  city  at 
the  time  of  the  fire  was  about  6,500,- 
ODO,  being  much  the  largest  ever  held 
here.  A  largely  increased  business 
was  being  conducted  with  Canada,  and 
much  more  property  had  been  pur- 
chased in  the  city  for  direct  export  to 
Europe  than  ever  before.  A  line  of 
substantial  steamers  adapted  to  the 
trade  had  been  established  between 
Chicago  and  Montreal,  and  had  not 
only  proved  of  great  value  to  shippers, 
but  were  understood  to  have  demon- 
strated the  enterprise  to  be  a  wise  finan- 
cial investment.  The  enlargement  of 


the  Canadian  canals,  which  is  hoped 
for  at  an  early  day,  will,  it  is  believed, 
very  greatly  increase  this  trade,  and 
will  practically  give  to  Chicago  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  seaport,  materially  less- 
ening the  expenses  of  communication 
between  producer  and  consumer. 

Next  in  rank  of  importance  to  cere- 
als, in  the  products  of  the  farm  that 
find  a  market  in  Chicago,  may  be 
noted  the  trade  in  live  stock.  No  re- 
liable record  of  receipts  and  shipments 
in  this  branch  of  trade  appears  to  have 
been  kept  until  1857,  though  for  several 
years  previous  a  considerable  business 
had  been  conducted ;  and  as  a  point 
for  the  packing  of  both  cattle  and  hogs, 
Chicago  had  taken  a  respectable  rank 
as  early  as  1850.  The  receipts  of  cat- 
tle in  1857  amounted  to  48,524  head, 
increasing  the  following  year  to  140,534 ; 
and  thenceforward  the  growth  of  the 
trade  was  steady  and  rapid,  until  in 
1870  the  receipts  reached  532,964  head, 
being  near  130,000  in  excess  of  the 
previous  year.  In  the  first  nine  months 
of  1871,  the  receipts  were  larger  by 
nearly  40,000  than  for  the  correspond- 
ing time  in  1870 — indicating  a  large 
increase  for  the  whole  year.  The  re- 
ceipts of  live  hogs,  which  in  1857 
amounted  to  a  little  over  200,000,  have 
increased  much  more  rapidly,  though 
with  not  the  same  regularity,  as  those 
of  cattle.  The  receipts  in  1 870  amounted 
to  1,693,158  head,  being  only  about 
13,000  less  than  the  greatest  number 
ever  received  in  one  year.  From 
January  ist  to  October  ist,  1871,  the 
receipts  were  1,393,274,  being  over 
400,000  in  excess  of  the  corresponding 
time  in  1870,  —  indicating  a  total  of 
receipts  for  the  current  year  very  greatly 
larger  than  any  previous  year  in  the 
city's  existence.  A  large  number  of 
hogs  are  sent  to  this  market  that  are 
slaughtered  in  the  interior — these  ag- 
gregated in  1870  over  260,000.  The 
larger  portion  of  both  cattle  and  hogs 
are  sold  here  and  shipped  eastward, 
this  being  by  far  the  largest  shipping 
point  in  the  country  ;  but  vast  numbers 
of  both  are  packed  in  the  city  and  its 


1 6 


OUR  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE. 


suburbs.  The  packing  of  beef  is  car- 
ried on  much  less  extensively  than  a 
few  years  since,  the  demand  for  the 
product  having  very  greatly  declined, 
and  the  business,  what  there  is  of  it, 
being  transferred  to  points  nearer  the 
feeding -grounds  of  cattle  best  fitted  for 
this  purpose.  The  packing  of  hogs, 
however,  is  conducted  on  a  gigantic 
scale,  the  number  packed  at  this  point 
greatly  overshadowing  any  other.  The 
number  packed  at  Chicago  during  the 
autumn  and  winter  of  i  Syo-'y  i ,  amount- 
ed to  919,197  head,  against  500,066 
head  packed  in  Cincinnati,  the  point 
ranking  next  to  Chicago  in  this  line  of 
business.  In  addition  to  the  packing 
of  the  city,  a  very  large  amount  of 
pork -product  manufactured  in  the  in- 
terior is  marketed  in  the  city,  the  re- 
ceipts for  1870  aggregating  over  40,000 
barrels  of  pork  and  52,000,000  pounds 
of  other  provisions,  so  that  the  provis- 
ion trade  of  the  city  amounts  to  an 
enormous  aggregate,  and  is  increasing 
quite  as  fast  as  any  other  branch  of  its 
commerce.  The  articles  of  wool,  seeds, 
butter,  and  in  fact  all  kinds  of  farm 
produce,  are  largely  marketed  in  Chi- 
cago ;  and  the  trade  has  assumed  such 
proportions  that  in  many  of  them  large 
houses  are  exclusively  engaged. 

The  trade  in  lumber  in  Chicago  far 
exceeds  that  of  any  city  in  the  land. 
In  1848  it  amounted  to  60,000,000  feet, 
in  1870  to  over  1,000,000,000,  and  in 
all  probability  will  considerably  exceed 
this  in  1871. 

The  trade  in  coal,  salt,  and  many 
other  leading  articles,  is  in  proportion 
to  the  demands  of  a  country  so  depend- 
ent as  is  the  Northwest  for  the  importa- 
tion of  these  articles. 

Of  the  trade  in  general  merchandise, 
including  dry  goods,  groceries,  hard- 
ware, drugs,  paints,  oils,  boots  and 
shoes,  and  clothing,  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  no  city  enjoys  a  larger  or  more 
satisfactory  business  in  proportion  to  its 
population  than  does  Chicago.  Nothing 
could  better  illustrate  the  truth  of  this 
than  the  extent  and  magnificence  of 
her  temples  of  trade  prior  to  the  calam- 


ity which  has  laid  the  city  in  asnes. 
No  city  could  boast  of  more  extensive 
or  elegant  establishments  for  the  trans- 
action of  business,  or  better  adapted  to 
the  purposes  for  which  they  were  con- 
structed. In  the  dry  goods  trade,  there 
were  houses  doing  an  annual  business 
exceeded  in  only  one  city  in  the  coun- 
try ;  and  in  all  branches  of  trade  were 
merchants  whose  capacity  for  business, 
as  well  as  the  aggregate  amount  of 
their  transactions,  made  them  the  peers 
of  any  either  in  the  West  or  East. 

In  manufactures,  Chicago  was  fast 
assuming  a  prominent  place,  although 
during  her  early  years  comparatively 
little  attention  was  given  to  this  subject, 
mainly  owing  to  the  fact  that  labor  in 
other  pursuits  yielded  a  larger  remu- 
neration. For  many  years,  however, 
the  manufacture  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments, leather,  highwines,  and  flour, 
have  been  most  successfully  conducted  ; 
and  later,  all  kinds  of  machinery  and 
castings,  lead-pipe,  shot,  printing  types 
and  presses,  furniture,  boots  and  shoes, 
hats  and  caps,  clothing,  and  many 
other  articles,  have  been  extensively 
manufactured ;  while  large  establish- 
ments for  the  manufacture  of  iron  have 
sprung  into  being,  and  given  employ- 
ment to  many  hundreds  of  operatives. 
The  amount  of  capital  employed  in 
manufactures  in  the  city  is  probably 
not  less  than  «4o,cco,cco,  with  annual 
products  amounting  to  at  least 
£70,000,000,  and  furnishing  means  of 
support  to  perhaps  6o,cco  souls.  No 
very  reliable  data,  however,  can  be  ar- 
rived at  touching  this  important  branch 
of  the  city's  business,  but  it  is  believed 
the  above  may  be  regarded  as  approxi- 
mately correct. 

Intimately  connected  with  the  Trade 
and  Commerce  of  the  city  is  the  ques- 
tion of  Financial  and  Banking  facili- 
ties; and  in  this  regard  probably  no 
community  has  ever  passed  through  so 
checkered  an  experience  as  Chicago. 
In  the  earlier  days  of  the  city  it  seems 
to  have  been  the  chosen  theatre  for 
financial  adventurers,  with  little  money 
and  much  assurance ;  though  from  the 


OUR  TRADE  AND  COMMERCE. 


beginning  very  honorable  exceptions 
may  be  noted  to  the  general  rule. 
Since  the  inauguration  of  the  National 
Banking  Law,  however,  a  marked 
change  has  occurred  ;  and  at  the  pres- 
ent time  no  class  of  financial  institu- 
tions rank  superior  to  those  of  Chicago. 
There  are  seventeen  banks  doing  busi- 
ness under  the  National  Banking  Law, 
and  some  ten  to  fifteen  banking  houses, 
representing  a  combined  capital  of 
nearly  or  quite  $10,000,000.  Universal 
confidence  exists  in  the  soundness  and 


good  management  of  these  institutions, 
and  their  business  is  conducted  with 
liberality,  but  with  a  wise  discretion. 

Such,  briefly,  has  been  the  outlines 
of  Chicago's  history  in  Trade  and  Com- 
merce, and  such  was  her  situation  as 
regards  business,  present  and  prospect- 
ive, when,  in  view  of  the  past, —  feeling 
cheerful,  strong,  and  confident  in  con- 
templating the  future,  beaming  with 
brilliant  prospects  and  high  hopes, — 
she  is  suddenly  overtaken  by  the  most 
dire  financial  calamity  the  world  has 


THE   CHICAGO   CHAMBER   OF   COMMERCE. 


ever  witnessed ;  in  a  day  withering 
those  hopes,  laying  in  ashes  her  lofty 
and  magnificent  temples,  both  of  wor- 
ship and  of  trade,  and  utterly  annihi- 
lating her  treasures  of  beauty  and  of 
art ;  dividing  the  fortunes  of  her  citi- 
zens by  two,  by  four,  by  ten,  or  by 
2 


an  hundred,  and  some,  alas !  thrusting 
from  wealth  and  luxury  to  actual  penu- 
ry and  suffering.  What  wonder  that 
for  a  moment  her  people  stand  appalled 
as  they  contemplate  the  awful  wreck  ? 
But  it  will  be  only  a  momen  :  whilet 
some  may  find  their  burden  greater 


IS 


Ol'K  <ESTHETICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 


than  they  can  ever  stagger  under,  oth- 
ers will  gather  together  the  fragments 
that  remain,  and  with  the  aid  of  the 
outstretched  helping  hands  from  the 
four  quarters  of  the  globe,  will  repair 
the  waste  places,  rebuild  the  levelled 
landmarks,  and  raise  from  the  ashes  of 


Chicago  past,  a  city  more  grand,  more 
substantial,  and  in  every  way  more 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  what  the  world 
has  come  to  recognize  as  the  necessi- 
ties of  Chicago  future. 

Charles  Randolph. 


OUR  yESTHETICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 


IT  is  strange  and  sad  to  think  of 
Chicago  as  among  the  things  of 
the  past.  To  rembember  what  Chica- 
go has  accomplished  and  thereby  judge 
what  Chicago  may  accomplish ;  to  look 
upon  the  massive  walls  that  are  already 
rising  from  the  ruins;  to  watch  the 
busy  bees  in  great  hives  that  have  been 
thrown  together  to  accommodate  the 
trade  which  is  as  essential  to  the  country 
as  it  is  to  Chicago ;  all  this  has  some- 
thing about  it  like  the  freshness  of  the 
wind  that  comes  from  across  Lake 
Michigan,  invigorating,  exhilarating 
and  health -giving.  This  is  to  partake 
of  the  true  Chicago  spirit  which  effaced 
the  foot -tracks  of  the  Indian  with  brick 
and  mortar,  and  reared  a  magnificent 
city  upon  the  sides  of  a  crooked  creek 
and  in  the  marshes  of  the  prairie.  It 
is  exciting  and  inspiring  to  contemplate 
the  new  growth ;  it  is  depressing  and 
saddening  to  look  back  upon  those 
things  that  can  never  be  restored. 

In  a  purely  material  sense  it  is  partly 
true  that 

"  One  fire  burns  out  another's  burning, 
One  pain  is  lessen'd  by  another's  anguish." 

But  in  the  products  of  genius,  in  the 
artistic  and  scientific  hoardings  of  time 
—  in  the  development  of  culture  —  the 
law  of  compensation  seems  to  lose  all 
its  force.  "Every  day,"  said  Robert 
Collyer  in  his  lecture  on  "Our  Loss 
and  Gain," — and  it  struck  the  writer 
as  the  most  sorrowful  sentiment  of  the 
evening's  reflections,  —  "  Every  day  \vc 
tread  upon  the  cinders  of  things  that 
we  would  have  touched  before  with  the 
greatest  reverence."  Could  our  old 


friend  Colonel  Foster,  whose  scientific 
attainments  have  received  a  national 
recognition,  bring  to  life  the  treasures 
of  the  Historical  Society  or  the  wonders 
of  the  Academy  of  Science  ?  The 
buildings  may  be  restored  as  well  as 
the  Pacific  Hotel ;  but  the  theory  that 
absolute  destruction  is  impossible  be- 
comes almost  doubtful  when  we  think 
of  the  paintings,  the  books,  the  manu- 
scripts, the  curiosities,  the  thousand 
and  one  things  whose  value  was  in 
their  intangible  contents,  all  converted 
into  matter-of-fact  carbon  under  the 
resistless  torrent  of  one  turbulent,  awful 
sea  of  flame. 

It  is  singular  enougn  that  a  city  of 
only  thirty  years'  growth  should  now 
send  the  relics  of  its  ruins  to  all  parts 
of  the  world,  but  not  more  singular 
perhaps  than  that  the  brief  span  of  a 
human  generation  should  have  served 
to  develop  the  culture  of  a  great  me- 
tropolis. Those  who  doubt  that  Chi- 
cago had  all  this  are  not  familiar  with 
the  story  of  its  growth,  and  make  the 
universal  mistake,  when  speaking  of 
Chicago,  of  comparing  it  with  other 
communities  that  have  had  no  longer 
existence.  Its  commercial  life  count- 
ing scarcely  more  than  thirty  years,  its 
artistic  life  is,  as  a  matter  of  course,  still 
shorter.  It  is  actually  not  more  than 
ten  years  since  the  higher  evidences 
of  culture  began  to  show  themselves. 
Within  that  time,  they  have  attained 
a  prominence  that  is  wonderful,  not 
alone  because  of  the  briefness  of  the 
intervening  space,  but  because  they 
have  forced  a  recognition  in  a  com- 


OUR  JSSTffETlCAL  DEVELOPMENT. 


munity  that  has  been  regarded  as  pure- 
ly mercantile  in  spirit.  It  used  to  be 
said  that  "  Chicago  is  a  good  place  for 
making  money,  but  you  want  to  go 
somewhere  else  to  spend  it;"  it  is  not 
probable,  however,  that  this  sentiment 
has  prevailed  to  any  extent  within  the 
last  three  or  four  years. 

It  would  be  both  foolish  and  wrong 
to  hold  that  many  of  the  character- 
istics of  a  Western  city  have  not 
been  retained,  —  among  them  a  certain 
primitiveness  of  grammar,  a  broadness 
of  expression,  and  a  freedom  of  action 
that  would  frequently  crop  out  to  the 
infinite  disgust  of  prim  New  England 
notions,  and  to  the  norror  of  "  school- 
marm"  rigidity  of  syntax  and  disci- 
pline. But  along  with  all  this,  there 
were  the  variety  of  the  metropolis,  a 
cosmopolitanism  in  language  and  cus- 
toms, an  earnestness  in  the  pursuit  of 
art  and  culture,  in  strange  contrast 
with  the  frigid  and  affected  connoisseur 
of  older  cities,  and  a  discrimination  that 
was  forming  itself  on  the  very  best 
model  of  independence.  A  Chicago  art 
criticism  was  apt  to  be  somewhat  con- 
fused in  technique,  but  there  has  been 
no  city  to  which  artists  would  more  glad- 
ly send  their  best  productions,  none 
other  where  they  have  been  so  certain  of 
securing  kind  appreciation  and  pat- 
ronage. 

Perhaps  the  first  genuine  impulse 
given  to  art  in  Chicago  was  during 
the  great  Sanitary  Fair,  not  more  than 
eight  years  ago.  Before  that  time,  with 
a  few  individual  exceptions,  the  auc- 
tion sales  of  bedaubed  canvas  by  the 
square  foot  were  the  sole  and  mortify- 
ing evidences  of  a  kind  of  art  taste 
"  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  i' 
the  observance."  The  exhibition  and 
distribution  of  paintings  in  the  Opera 
House  lottery  was  certainly  an  illegiti- 
mate, but  not  the  less  useful,  means  of 
developing  the  sentiment  of  art,  for  it 
introduced  new  pleasures  in  this  way, 
and  had  peculiar  facilities  for  popular- 
izing them.  From  this  time  on,  true 
art  became  profitable ;  and  the  moment 
this  point  was  reached  there  was  a 


constant  advance  in  the  supply  and  a 
steady  increase  in  the  demand.  The 
art  stores  soon  doubled  in  number; 
four  or  five  galleries  were  established ; 
art -receptions  became  fashionable  and 
gorgeous;  some  of  the  most  famous 
modern  pictures  were  attracted  here ; 
the  private  collections,  of  which  there 
were  three  or  four  that  would  compare 
favorably  with  any  in  the  country,  in- 
creased and  improved ;  a  new  and 
better  taste  was  developed,  and  the 
time  had  come  when  mere  ostentation 
in  art  had  given  way  largely  to  its  en- 
joyment. The  merit  of  home  produc- 
tions grew  in  proportion.  Men  who 
had  been  forced  to  subsist  upon  cheap 
portraits  and  the  coloring  of  photo- 
graphs, found  that  such  talents  as  they 
had  would  meet  encouragement  and 
remuneration  in  better  work.  The 
younger  artists  made  their  way  to  Eu- 
rope for  wider  culture ;  the  older  form- 
ed themselves  into  an  association  for 
mutual  improvement.  The  Academy 
of  Design,  after  a  life  of  only  three  or 
four  years,  had  erected  a  handsome 
and  commodious  building;  and  after  a 
number  of  superb  collections,  had,  at 
the  time  of  the  fire,  its  gallery  and  its 
studios  filled  with  choice  and  costly 
works. 

In  the  love  and  appreciation  of  mu- 
sic, Chicago  has  advanced  still  more 
than  in  the  love  and  appreciation  of 
painting  and  sculpture.  The  taste  had 
greater  age,  and,  like  good  wine,  was 
the  better  for  it.  While  the  public's 
estimate  of  artists  is  according  to  their 
merits,  the  artists'  estimate  of  the  pub- 
lic is  according  to  its  money.  It  was 
for  this  reason  that  Chicago  has  been, 
for  many  years,  second  only  to  New 
York  in  the  favoritism  of  the  musical 
impressarii  and  their  combinations. 
Parepa,  Nilsson,  Kellogg,  Theodore 
Thomas,  along  with  their  less  famous 
companions  and  assistants,  have  al- 
ways found  so  broad  a  sympathy  and 
so  liberal  a  patronage  from  Chicago 
people  that,  outside  of  any  mercantile 
considerations  —  which,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, go  hand -in -hand  with  art  now- 


20 


OUR   ^ESTHETICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 


a-days, —  they  have  conceived  and  ex- 
pressed the  most  sincere  attachments 
to  the  city  and  its  musical  public.  This 
gauge  of  art  by  the  interest  on  dollars 
will  attest  the  degree  of  culture  in  Chi- 
cago still  further  by  the  extent  to  which 
music  had  grown  as  a  business.  There 
have  long  been  five  or  six  of  the 
largest  piano  and  organ  houses  in  the 
country,  and,  among  numerous  music- 
publishing  firms,  one  at  least  compared 
in  the  amount  of  its  productions  to  any 
other  on  the  continent.  The  numer- 
ous representation  of  the  German  na- 
tionality among  us  has  contributed 
largely  to  our  musical  culture.  They 
have  always  had  a  great  number  of 
musical  societies,  and  notably  two  — 
the  Germania  and  Concordia  —  which 
have  frequently  given  public  exhibitions 
of  their  resources  by  the  production  of 
operas,  symphonies,  orchestral  and 
choral  concerts,  which  have  contributed 
equal  satisfaction  and  pleasure  with 
many  of  the  first-class  entertainments 
coming  from  abroad.  In  the  attraction 
of  distinguishing  musicians  from  other 
cities  to  a  permanent  home  in  Chicago ; 
in  the  large  number  and  superior 
quality  of  our  church  choirs ;  and  in 
the  excellence  of  purely  amateur  talent 
in  society,  Chicago's  musical  culture  has 
been  one  in  which  the  city  and  country 
might  take  a  legitimate  pride. 

The  drama  has  grown  apace  with 
the  means  for  enjoying  it, —  not  always 
in  the  right  direction,  but  always  far 
superior  to  all  other  Western  cities. 
Four  large  theatres,  two  of  which  — 
Crosby's  and  McVicker's — presented 
a  beauty  and  a  convenience  of  arrange- 
ment unsurpassed  anywhere,  provided 
an  incessant  round  of  amusement,  as 
various  in  its  character  as  the  tastes  of 
a  metropolis.  For  a  time,  the  drama 
in  Chicago  sank  under  the  incubus  of 
meretricious  performances,  as  did  that 
of  the  whole  country  ;  but  it  had  been 
more  recently  freed  from  this  foulness, 
and  was  promising  purer  and  more  in- 
tellectual enjoyment.  It  was  only  some 
sixteen  years  ago  that  a  gentleman,  who 
has  since  been  mayor  of  Chicago  two 


successive  terms,  was  playing  three  or 
four  parts  in  one  piece,  was  changing 
—  a  corpulent  man  himself — with  an 
unreliable  leading  actor  —  a  tall,  thin 
man  —  in  getting  through  with  the 
character  of  the  ferocious  Richard,  all 
in  the  same  night, —  an  instance  which 
curiously  and  humorously  illustrates 
the  primitiveness  of  the  time.  And 
yet,  within  this  short  lapse,  gorgeous 
temples  of  the  drama  had  been 
erected,  and.  one  or  two  of  the  man- 
agers were  giving  performances  of  the 
most  chaste  and  admirable  character. 
Such  actors  as  Ristori,  Janauschek, 
Booth,  Jefferson,  Mrs.  Bowers,  Adams, 
and  others,  played  their  most  success- 
ful and  remunerative  engagements  in 
Chicago,  and  attested  their  own  con- 
fidence in  the  city  which  treated  them 
so  well  by  investing  some  of  their  large 
profits  in  its  famous  "  real  estate." 

In  literature,  Chicago  was  making 
advances  even  beyond  those  in  the 
fine  arts.  It  had  three  of  the  finest 
and  largest  bookstores  in  the  world, 
and  sacrificed  them  at  a  loss  of  not 
less  than  a  million  of  dollars.  The 
bookstores  on  State  Street,  known  as 
Booksellers'  Row,  comprised  the  three 
great  firms  of  the  Western  News  Co., 
S.  C.  Griggs  &  Co.,  and  W.  B.  Keen  & 
Cooke,  and  in  the  magnitude  of  the 
collections  and  in  the  variety  of  their 
contents,  were  unsurpassed,  either  in 
this  country  or  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe.  Their  combined  sales  reached 
$2,500,000  annually.  In  New  York 
there  is  a  division  of  the  trade ;  and 
he  who  would  seek  imported  books,  or 
books  of  science  and  technology,  or 
books  of  current  literature,  must  resort 
to  different  establishments ;  but  here 
were  concentrated  an  assortment  of 
books  which  embraced  the  whole  cir- 
cuits of  knowledge.  Leaving  out  the 
sites  of  the  great  public  libraries,  it 
may  be  said  that  nowhere  on  the 
surface  of  the  globe,  within  an  equal 
area,  were  condensed  such  treasures 
of  knowledge  as  here.  Chicago  had 
long  been  as  large  a  distributing  cen- 
tre for  literature  as  for  grain  or  lum- 


OUR  &STHETICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 


21 


ber ;  it  was  fast  becoming  a  most  im- 
portant productive  point.  The  day  is 
not  more  distant  when  the  New  York 
newspapers  were  sold  in  the  streets  of 
Chicago,  and  looked  for  as  the  only 
means  for  obtaining  all  the  news,  than 
was  that  when  our  only  stage  was  of 
the  backwoods  description  and  drawn 
by  four  horses.  Yet  the  fame  of  Chi- 
cago newspapers  has  already  become 


world -wide.  In  circulation,  profits, 
and  influence,  they  are  scarcely  second 
to  any  in  the  United  States.  Their 
enterprise  for  news  and  their  ability  in 
editorial  management  are  of  a  kind  to 
satisfy  the  most  exacting  demands. 
The  time  had  already  come,  too,  when 
Chicago  was  beginning  to  make  the 
proper  distinction  between  the  news- 
paper business  and  the  art  of  literature. 


BOOKSELLER'S  ROW 


THE  LAKESIDE  MONTHLY  is  one  in- 
stance of  the  fact,  of  which  there  were 
many  others.  The  publishing  busi- 
ness was  rapidly  developing  into  ex- 
cellence and  profit.  There  were  about 
one  hundred  publications  in  the  city  of 
a  periodical  nature,  besides  the  increas- 
ing issue  of  books.  Four  public  libra- 
ries of  considerable  size  and  worth,  and 
probably  fifty  private  libraries  worthy 
of  mention  for  extent,  variety,  costli- 
ness, or  uniqueness,  were  contributing 
to  our  literary  improvement. 


All  this  fails  to  give  even  the  briefest 
possible  view  of  Chicago's  develop- 
ment in  culture  before  the  fire.  The 
material  part  is  all  gone,  for  the  sever- 
est sufferers  by  that  great  conflagration, 
which  rivers  could  not  quench,  were 
the  institutions  of  music,  the  drama, 
literature,  art  and  science.  The  rapid 
growth  of  this  development  has  re- 
ceived a  check  which  it  may  require 
years  to  throw  off.  Yet  in  the  memory 
of  what  there  was,  there  is  great 


22 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREA  T  EIRE. 


promise  of  what  is  to  come.  We  shall 
never  have  to  begin  over  again  in  the 
old,  primitive  fashion  of  half  a  genera- 
tion ago  ;  we  shall  begin  where  we  left 
off,  upon  a  surer  and  more  healthful 
basis,  with  perhaps  a  slower  but  a  more 


colossal  growth.  As  to  the  abstract 
and  spiritual  quality  of  this  develop- 
ment the  burning  of  Chicago  was  as 
"  uneffectual  as  the  glow-worm  to  the 
matin." 

.  B.  Runnion. 


PART  II.— BURNING  OF  THE  CITY. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREAT  FIRE. 


A  DESPICABLE  combination  of 
cow,  kerosene,  and  baled  hay, 
was  responsible  for  it  all. 

The  fact  that  early  in  the  history  of 
the  blaze,  and  while  its  hot  breath  had 
only  withered  to  their  foundations  a  few 
of  the  rookeries  in  its  immediate  neigh- 
borhood, historical  Mrs.  Leary  admitted 
that  the  fire  had  its  origin  in  the  man- 
ner popularly  understood,  is  answer 
enough  to  the  unreasonable  doubts 
which  have  been  thrown  upon  the 
story.  Standing  in  the  yard  of  her 
house  —  situated  near  the  corner  of 
De  Koven  and  Jefferson  Streets  —  this 
lady  held  forth  exasperatingly  to  police, 
spectators  curious,  and  reporters.  Here 
it  was  that  she  implored  maledictions 
dire  upon  the  villainous  bovine  whose 
wretched  hoofs  had  snuffed  out  her 
barn,  and  started  the  flames  which 
were  now  licking  savagely  toward  the 
rivei . 

According  to  her  statements  in  the 
early  stages  of  the  fire,  and  the  reitera- 
ted assertions  of  her  friends,  she  had 
taken  an  ordinary  kerosene  lamp,  at 
about  half- past  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  the  fatal  Sunday  of  Octo- 
ber 8  in  order  to  look  after  her  ail- 
ing ruminant.  Reaching  the  barn,  she 
placed  the  light  upon  the  flooring,  and 
was  on  the  point  of  putting  a  little  feed 


into  the  manger  when  the  cow  sprawled 
out  her  heels  in  token  of  satisfaction. 

An  explosion  ;  a  sharp,  brisk  spread- 
ing of  the  burning  oil ;  hay  and  straw- 
eager  to  hand  the  flames  up  to  the  roof, 
in  short,  a  barn  on  fire. 

The  woman  hastened  in  feminine 
frenzy  from  the  ricketty  structure  to 
alarm  the  neighbors;  but  before  the 
desired  assistance  could  be  laid  hold 
upon  there  had  been  consummated  an 
alliance  of  the  riotous  elements  which 
only  He  who  holdeth  a  world  in  the 
hollow  of  His  hand  could  dissolve.  It 
was  an  alliance  of  fire  and  tornado  ;  a 
joining  of  hideous  natural  forces  in  a 
wild  compact  of  destruction  all  the 
more  appalling  when  we  remember  the 
contemptible  means  by  which  the  union 
was  effected.  To  be  sure,  in  the  sadly 
ludicrous  fright  of  the  succeeding  days, 
this  account  of  the  beginning  of  the 
conflagration  was  stoutly  denied  by  tlu- 
wailing  madame.  But  as  a  whimsical 
fright,  lest  herself  and  her  lord  might  be 
compelled  to  foot  the  bill  of  some 
hundred  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of 
incremated  property,  was  acknowledged 
to  be  behind  these  denials,  her  first  ana 
less -biased  asseverations  must  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  more  honest  ones. 

Yet  if  the  commencement  of  the 
giant  conflagration  was  the  result  of 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


pitifully  insignificant  causes,  so  were 
not  the  surrounding  conditions  by 
which  the  subsequent  accumulation  of 
horrors  was  entailed. 

There  had  been  a  baking  of  earth, 
trees  and  dwellings,  in  the  dry  air  of  a 
rainless  autumn,  until  everything  had 
been  cooked  to  the  crisp,  igniting  point. 
There  was  a  fire  department,  wearied 
with  the  labor  of  subduing  a  conflagra- 
tion which,  twenty  hours  before,  had 
been  thrown  out  as  a  skirmish  line  for 
the  mighty  hosts  of  flame  that  were  to 
follow.  Worst  of  all,  a  driving  gale  of 
wind  was  surging  up  from  the  south- 
west; a  gale  so  steadily  violent  as  to 
threaten  disastrous  hurricane,  and  to 
whip  the  waters  of  the  lake  into  the 
white  frenzy  of  a  fearful  storm.  Against 
this  combination  of  evils  there  was  no 
force  at  hand  strong  enough  to  prevent 
the  destruction  of  the  sheds,  dilapidated 
houses  and  shaky  structures  that  com- 
prised the  "  built  up  "  portion  of  that 
part  of  the  city  in  which  the  calamity 
was  conceived.  That  the  fire  must  be 
extensive  in  its  reach,  and  completely 
sweep  away  the  many  wooden  build- 
ings in  that  quarter  of  the  town,  was 
obvious  at  the  outset.  But  an  earnest 
combat  was,  nevertheless,  maintained 
against  the  enemy's  encroachments. 
The  three  alarms,  which  in  our  munici- 
pal regulations  denote  a  conflagration 
of  unusual  magnitude,  and  which  sum- 
mon all  our  engines  to  the  scene  of 
anxiety,  had  rung  out  inspiringly  upon 
the  night.  The  fire  department  had 
entered  upon  the  customary  battle  with 
the  flames,  as  sanguine  as  ever  of  being 
able  to  hold  them  within  reasonable 
confines;  for  an  hour  every  one  be- 
lieved that  nothing  more  serious  than 
another  broad,  blackened  hole  in  the 
West  Division  would  result. 

But  the  drenchings  from  the  engines, 
and  the  ripping  away  of  fences  and 
out -houses,  availed  nothing  toward 
checking  the  progress  of  destruction. 
The  narrow  streets  and  alleys  were  be- 
ginning to  overflow  with  people  driven 
from  their  homes.  The  flames  sul- 
lenly, but  with  an  unequivocal  certainty, 


were  taking  to  themselves  mightier  pro- 
portions. They  swung  their  lurid  arms 
still  further  toward  the  river,  brushing 
from  existence  every  vestige  of  human 
work  that  lay  in  their  path. 

Soon  the  word  began  to  be  passed 
that  the  fire  must  reach  the  burnt  dis- 
trict of  the  night  before,  £re  any  certain 
barricading  of  its  march  could  be 
counted  upon.  A  few  only  were  reck- 
lessly prophetic  enough  to  aver  that  its 
constantly  augmenting  wrath  might 
endanger  the  safety  of  other  sections  of 
the  city.  Was  there  not  a  bare, 
smirched  area  of  several  blocks,  left  by 
the  fierce  blaze  of  the  preceding  night, 
along  the  river's  edge  ?  and  who  had 
ever  heard  of  a  conflagration  powerful 
enough  to  stretch  itself  over  such  a 
space  and  threaten  property  beyond  ? 

Such  was  the  fair  reasoning  of  those 
whose  hearthstones  were  not  being 
swiftly  devastated.  They  saw  only  a 
magnificent  spectacle  ;  a  spectacle  al- 
ready so  grand  as  to  dwarf  from  sight 
the  minor  episodes  of  humble  families, 
wild  with  fright  and  the  consciousness 
of  suddenly  inflicted  poverty.  But  on 
swept  the  flames,  and  as  they  roared, 
snapped,  and  crackled  along,  in  ever- 
growing fury,  they  seemed  to  be  as 
little  mindful  of  the  attempts  at  their 
suppression  as  though  men  were  but 
pigmies,  and  their  impotent  engines 
but  the  playthings  of  childhood. 

A  steady  cutting  away  of  human 
habitations;  an  atmosphere  so  rarefied 
by  the  intense  heat  as  to  cause  the 
cooler  air  from  beyond  to  rush  in  witli 
whirlwind  fantasies;  all  the  space 
above  dancing  with  swirling  bits  of 
burning  timber,  and  alive  with  flakes 
of  spinning  fire;  ithe  thoroughfares 
filled  with  half- dressed,  frantic  women, 
dazed  children,  and  powerless  men,  all 
burdened  with  dear  mementos  of  the 
wasted  home,  and  all  pushing  about  in 
pitiful  uncertainty  to  find  the  resting- 
place  which  was  not  to  be  found  —  this 
was  the  scene  in  the  West  Division  as 
the  battalions  of  fire  held  on  in  victo- 
rious array. 

In  something  over  one   hour  from 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


the  commencement,  the  flames  seized 
upon  the  planing  mills,  furniture  shops, 
and  other  manufactories  of  similarly 
combustible  material  situated  a  little 
west  of  the  river.  From  them  it  was 
only  a  vigorous  stride  to  several  of 
the  largest  elevators,  and  before  mid- 
night the  conflagration  had  enwrapped 
more  in  value  in  its  hot  embrace 
than  had  ever  before  been  sacrificed 
in  our  brief  history. 

It  had  demolished,  leaving  hardly 
one  stone  upon  another,  an  extent  of 
thickly  settled  country  more  than 
enough  to  form  a  city  of  respectable 
dimensions.  It  had  left  in  blistering 
ruins  the  homes  of  thousands  of  poor 
people.  It  had  destroyed  many  places 
of  labor  in  which  these  people  earned 
bread  for  themselves  and  families.  It 
had  blotted  out  of  existence  a  large 
number  of  the  most  valuable  manufac- 
turing interests  of  the  West ;  and  it 
had  blown  from  sight  forever  several 
enormous  receptacles  for  the  grain  of  the 
world. 

The  conflagration  now  hung  upon 
the  verge  of  the  last  night's  work  of 
ruin,  and  it  was  hoped  by  wearied 
fighters  and  victims  of  its  anger  that 
here  it  would  rest.  Beyond  the  open 
space  of  the  old  burnt  area  was  the 
river,  and  beyond  that  were  the  proud 
stone  edifices  of  the  business  heart  of 
Chicago.  Here,  all  thought,  the  fire- 
wraith  would  bow  to  circumstances  too 
powerful  for  its  fury.  With  tender  care 
for  the  unfortunate  ones,  we  would  pro- 
ceed to  rebuild  the  devastated  acres, 
and  in  a  few  months  would  show  a 
pleased  world,  as  we  had  so  many, 
many  times  shown  it  in  the  past,  how 
happy  is  Chicago  in  turning  apparent 
evils  into  unmistakable  blessings. 

But  suddenly  there  fell  upon  the 
sturdy  complacency  of  the  city  an  in- 
cubus so  appalling  that  all  its  troubles 
in  the  past  became  insignificant.  Hard- 
ly pausing  to  take  new  breath,  the  allied 
terrors  of  tempest  and  flame  had  leaped 
in  fell  carnival  over  into  the  South 
Division. 

For  a  long  time  before  the  fire  ob- 


tained its  foothold  in  this  part  of  the 
town,  the  savage  blasts  had  been  mad- 
ly at  work,  dashing  blazing  emissaries 
from  the  melting  structures  in  the  West 
Division  along  the  almost  deserted 
ways  of  the  business  centre  of  the  city. 
But  with  gravelled  roofs,  slate  cover- 
ings, stone  fronts,  and  alert  watchmen, 
what  was  there  of  serious  import  to 
apprehend  ?  Yet  all  this  while  Chicago 
was  being  rapidly  converted  into  an 
enormous  furnace.  The  materials  were 
all  ready  for  the  blast,  and  the  air  of 
the  furnace  was  already  sucking  through 
the  huge  flues  of  streets  and  avenues. 
The  match  only  was  wanting,  and  now 
that  was  applied. 

The  bridges  and  shipping  in  the 
river  afforded  a  superb  transit  for  the 
flames,  and  the  crossings  at  Van  Bu- 
ren,  Polk,  and  Adams  Streets  were  soon 
frame  -  works  of  fire.  From  these,  blaz- 
ing in  a  raging  wind,  there  was  no 
lack  of  communication  from  the  West 
to  the  South  Side. 

This  latter  was  fired  in  two  places, 
at  a  few  minutes  before  one  o'clock,  on 
Monday  morning;  some  three  and  a 
half  hours  after  the  origin  of  the  con- 
flagration in  De  Koven  Street.  The 
first  of  these  was  in  a  shed  on  the  river 
bank,  near  Polk  Street.  This  fire  was 
extinguished  with  ease  —  although  the 
structure  was  itself  torn  down,  as  the 
only  method  of  checking  the  work  of 
ruin. 

At  nearly  the  same  time,  the  tar 
works  belonging  to  the  South  Division 
Gas  Manufactory,  situated  on  Adams 
Street,  near  the  Armory,  were  ignited. 
The  firemen  were  well  nigh  exhausted ; 
their  engines  were  disabled,  and  the 
buildings  upon  which  the  fire  had  now 
fallen  were  of  an  excessively  combusti- 
ble nature. 

In  less  than  five  minutes  a  square  of 
buildings  was  in  flames;  the  Gas- 
Works  were  attacked;  the  Armory, 
Chicago's  principal  police  station,  was 
toppling  to  the  earth,  and  the  legions 
of  ruin  had  effected  a  terribly  curious 
manoeuvre,  with  a  military  exactitude 
savoring  almost  of  reason.  They  divid- 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


ed  their  forces.  One  army  of  destruc- 
tion marched  swiftly  toward  the  east, 
and  the  other  sped  away  to  the  north. 
The  first  was  soon  across  Fifth  Avenue, 
and  from  thence  moved  upon  the  archi- 
tectural grandeur  of  La  Salle  Street. 
The  other  dashed  unchecked  toward 
the  no  less  noble  structures  that  lined 
Monroe,  Madison,  and  Washington 
Streets. 

A  double  column  of  fiery  devastation 
was  abroad,  and  the  core  of  one  of  the 
fairest  cities  on  the  face  of  the  globe 
was  doomed  to  yield  to  their  imperious 
power. 

Following  the  track  of  the  eastward 
moving  column  of  fire,  or  rather  giving 
way  reluctantly  to  its  hot  encroach- 
ments, the  first  great  pang  of  sorrow 
came  to  the  despairing  spectators,  when 
the  flames  stormed  up  to  the  Pacific 
Hotel. 

This  superb  edifice,  a  caravansary 
built  upon  architectural  precepts  of  the 
most  artistic  order,  was  six  deep  stories 
in  height,  and  covered  a  full  block  of 
ground.  The  roof  had  just  been  placed 
upon  it,  and  it  was  hoped  that  ere 
another  year  should  dawn  the  estab- 
lishment would  be  in  readiness  to  re- 
ceive the  approval  of  nations,  as  the 
best  hotel,  all  things  considered,  in 
America. 

The  sight  of  the  billows  of  fire  buf- 
feting in,  above,  and  around  its  superb 
lines,  until  it  swayed  and  crashed  in 
indignant  protestation  to  the  earth, 
was  a  proof  against  all  imaginings 
that  man  had  any  power  to  cope  with 
or  mercy  to  hope  from  the  terrific 
elements  which  had  obtained  control 
of  Chicago.  The  intense  heat  was  now 
continually  creating  new  wind  centres, 
by  the  rarefaction  of  the  air,  so  that 
although  the  main  course  of  the  tem- 
pest was  still  toward  the  northeast, 
whirlwinds  of  fire  were  formed,  which 
gave  the  conflagration  abundant  oppor- 
tunities of  beating  up  against  the  gale. 
Thus  it  was  that  almost  at  the  same 
time  the  Pacific  Hotel  was  consuming, 
the  vast  railway  depot  of  the  Michigan 
Southern  road  was  burned. 


The  twin  brawlers  of  fire  and  torna- 
do, with  their  appetite  sharpened  by 
the  feast  among  the  cheaper  buildings 
of  the  West  Division,  had  gnawed  to 
ragged  crusts  these  two  imposing  edi- 
fices, and  were  now  wild  for  a  continu- 
ation of  the  repast.  Down  La  Salle 
and  across  to  Clark  Street  they  rushed, 
swallowing  in  turn  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Farwell  Hall,  and  the  rows 
upon  rows  of  elegant  stone  and  marble 
structures  intervening. 

Gunpowder  was  now  called  into  use, 
and  as  it  fulminated  from  street  to 
street,  substantial  banking  houses  and 
the  most  ornate  of  trade  palaces  were 
hurled  one  by  one  into  the  air.  Dark 
chasms  were  thus  frequently  opened 
before  the  path  of  flame  in  the  lines  of 
swiftly  disappearing  blocks,  but  all  to 
no  avail.  A  brief  hesitancy,  as  if  to 
gather  new  energy,  and  then  a  million 
sparks  would  dance  over  the  abyss ;  an 
hundred  tongues  of  fire  would  lap 
across  the  intervening  space,  and  with 
melting  shutters,  cracking  roof,  and 
yielding  stone,  another  block  would  be 
ablaze. 

And  now,  while  the  heavens  seemed 
to  be  metamorphosed  into  realms  Plu- 
tonian, a  curious  study  might  have 
been  made  of  the  powerless  people, 
around  whom  all  this  dire  transforma- 
tion was  working.  While  a  few  men 
were  laboring  with  Trojan -like  energy 
to  save  something  from  the  impend- 
ing ruin,  by  far  the  larger  proportion 
seemed  inclined  to  assume  the  charac- 
ter of  spectators.  Men  who  in  the  face 
of  ordinary  conflagrations  would  have 
imperilled  life  and  limb  to  preserve 
their  own  goods  and  those  of  their 
neighbors,  stood  calmly  by,  and  passed 
quaint,  terse  jokes  upon  the  excellence 
of  the  show.  "  It  burns  well ; "  "  Chi- 
cago couldn  't  have  even  a  fire  on  a  half 
way  scale;"  "  It  lays  over  anything  in 
history,"  is  the  embodiment  of  the 
comments  that  were  bandied.  It  did 
appear  as  if  the  consoling  balm  of  local 
importance  and  patriotism  was  drip- 
ping into  every  wounded  fortune,  and 
the  fact  that  Chicago  was  bound  to 


26 


DESCRIPTION  OF    THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


have  a  tip- top  advertisement  out  of  it, 
somewhat  compensated  for  the  swift 
entailing  misery. 

How  a  double  column  of  blazing 
destruction  started  at  right  angles  from 
the  initial  point  of  the  South  Division, 
at  the  tar  works,  has  been  noted.  As 
they  swayed  along  in  search  of  further 
prey,  these  two  columns  threw  out 
constant  flanking  lines  of  fire,  filling 
in  the  streets,  avenues,  and  alleys,  in 
systematic  order. 

The  northward  moving  line  of  ruin, 
chasing  hotly  up  Market,  Wells,  Frank- 
lin and  La  Salle  Streets,  swallowed  the 
cheaper  buildings  on  the  river  ends  of 
Jackson,  Quincy,  and  Adams  Streets  ; 
snuffed  out  the  Nevada  Hotel ;  baked 
to  a  crackling  heat  the  stony  approach 
to  the  east  end  of  the  world-famous 
Washington  Street  tunnel,  and  tottered 
from  existence  alike  the  dingy  sailor 
boarding  houses,  the  dens  of  dubious 
repute,  and  the  erstwhile  durable  di- 
mensions of  the  banking,  commercial, 
and  insurance  houses  that  lay  in  its 
way.  The  coal  yards,  in  which  the 
winter's  stores  from  Pennsylvania's  ex- 
haustless  mine  had  just  been  heaped, 
were  also  enveloped  in  flame ;  and 
presently  half  a  dozen  or  more  of  the 
grandest  anthracite  blazes  of  history 
were  adding  their  glare  to  the  illumina- 
tions of  this  new  Eblis. 

The  destruction  of  the  Nevada  Hotel, 
one  of  the  most  successful  of  the  sec- 
ond-rate hostelries,  contributed  no 
little  to  the  uniqueness  of  the  oc- 
casion. This  establishment  was  over- 
flowing with  regular  and  transient 
boarders.  Of  the  former,  a  large  pro- 
portion were  members  of  the  drama- 
tic profession,  attaches  of  city  journals, 
and  clerks  in  prominent  positions  in 
the  leading  mercantile  houses.  The 
feminine  portion  of  the  histrionic  dele- 
gation were  particularly  vehement  in 
their  expressions  of  disgust  at  being 
thus  unceremoniously  hustled  from  their 
comfortable  quarters.  It  was  vastly 
more  dramatic  than  anything  at  which 
they  had  been  called  upon  to  assist,  in 
their  capacity  of  abstract  chroniclers 


of  the  times,  and  they  did  not  relish  it 
at  all. 

The  line  of  fire,  with  its  flanking 
supports,  which  was  eating  toward  the 
northeast,  in  a  capricious  spirit  of 
mercy  spared  the  Madison  and  Ran- 
dolph Street  bridges,  over  which  ran 
the  main  city  railways  connecting  all 
portions  of  the  West  Division  with  the 
South  Side.  A  large  five -story  struc- 
ture, just  north  of  the  last-named 
bridge,  was  also  omitted,  in  either  scorn 
or  pity,  and  subsequently  stood  in  ma- 
jestic loneliness,  the  only  unscathed 
edifice  in  the  South  Division,  north  of 
Harrison  Street. 

That  thrifty  thoroughfare  of  whole- 
sale commerce,  South  Water  Street, 
having  been  reached,  the  omnipotent 
angel  of  ruin  who  hovered  over  the 
city  permitted  the  track  of  fire  to  turn 
again  almost  straight  toward  the  lake. 
And  now  were  swept  away  mammoth 
elevators,  the  Lumber  Exchange,  innu- 
merable warehouses  teeming  with  the 
products  of  the  world.  The  wines  of 
sunny  France  and  Italy,  the  teas  of 
China,  the  coffees  of  the  Indies,  and 
the  staple  viands  of  the  Orient,  were 
quickly  tossed  in  steaming  radiance  to 
the  zenith. 

At  the  same  time  there  perished 
the  substantial  accumulations  of  Lake 
Street,  a  business  avenue  which  for 
gorgeous  trade  palaces  and  the  value 
of  their  storied  contents  was  abund- 
antly capable  of  challenging  any 
equal  extent  of  thoroughfare  in  the 
land.  Millions  on  millions  of  dollars, 
represented  in  the  products  of  every 
quarter  of  the  globe,  fed  the  insatiable 
maw  of  the  fire.  At  the  lake  end  of  the 
street  there  fell  several  excellent  hotels, 
including  the  Massasoit,  Adams,  and 
Richmond,  and  that  "good  old  inn," 
so  revered  by  the  appreciative  travel- 
lers of  the  country,  the  Tremont  House. 
The  grand  rendezvous  of  railway  trains, 
that  ganglion  of  tracks  where  centred 
the  roads  of  half  a  dozen  great  compan- 
ies, the  Illinois  Central  Depot,  was,  in 
this  quarter,  the  last  seared  monument 
of  ruin  left  crumbling  in  hot  protestation 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  CREA  T  FIRE. 


27 


at  the  unmerited  fury  of  the  tempest. 
Spinning  along  Randolph  Street,  the 
conflagration  fed  heartily  upon  the 
glories  of  the  Briggs,  Sherman,  Metro- 
politan, and  Matteson  Hotels ;  upon 
stately  business  homes,  Wood's  Mu- 
seum, and  a  miscellany  of  trade  edi- 
fices that  of  themselves  would  have 
formed  the  heart  of  a  small  city. 
The  scenes  at  the  destruction  of  the 


Sherman  House  were  marvellously 
thrilling.  Upwards  of  three  hundred 
guests  were  lodged  in  the  house.  At 
the  time  the  fire  approached  there  were 
left  in  active  charge  only  the  night 
clerk  and  an  assistant.  The  night 
clerk  was  not  by  any  means  the  con- 
sequential hotel -employe  of  the  period, 
but  was  a  cool,  energetic  young  man, 
with  a  remarkable  fund  of  good  sense. 


THE  SHERMAN    HOUSE. 


Of  the  three  hundred  guests,  a  large 
number  were  ladies,  unaccompanied  by 
male  escort;  and  of  these,  five  were  so 
sick  as  to  be  confined  to  their  beds. 
The  night  clerk,  having  sometime  be- 
fore secured  the  valuable  papers  of  the 
place,  proceeded,  with  his  assistant,  to 
arouse  every  sleeper  in  the  house.  The 
lone  women  were  promptly  conveyed 
to  the  lake  shore,  and  there  placed  in 
charge  of  policemen  who  took  them 


beyond  reach  of  further  danger.  The 
sick  ladies  were  placed  in  hacks  by 
the  omnipresent  night  clerk,  and  were 
being  driven  away,  when,  followed  by 
his  assistant,  and  seized  with  a  terrible 
suspicion,  he  rushed  after  and  stopped 
them.  An  instantaneous  counting  of 
thin,  pallid  faces,  and  lo !  only  four 
women  were  there.  Five  had  certainly 
been  recorded  in  the  sick  book  of  the 
house.  It  was  then  remembered  that 


28 


DESCRIPTION  OF    THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


one  poor  lady  was  still  remaining. 
Back  into  the  now  trembling  structure 
dashed  the  two  young  men,  one  of 
them  snatching  from  a  fireman  an  axe 
as  he  passed.  Up  the  stairways  and 
through  the  smoke -reeking  halls  they 
groped,  until  the  door  desired  was 
reached.  Two  lusty  blows,  and  in  it 
crashed,  revealing  the  woman  half 
raised  in  terror  from  the  bed.  It  was 
the  first  intimation  of  the  horrible  dan- 
ger that  she  had  received.  A  word  of 
explanation,  and  she  had  directed  them 
to  the  cleset  where  hung  a  dress  and 
cloak  of  uncommonly  heavy  stuff.  A 
pitcher  and  basin,  fortunately  full  of 
water,  served  to  drench  these  garments 
and  the  main  quilt  of  the  bed,  and  in 
them  was  quickly  wrapped  the  invalid. 
Portions  of  the  soaked  clothing  were 
then  thrown  over  their  own  heads,  and 
in  a  space  of  time  hardly  longer  than 
it  has  taken  to  pen  this  episode,  these 
heroes,  than  whom  no  braver  shine 
upon  the  admired  annals  of  the  ages 
agone,  had  instinctively  found  their 
way  through  the  familiar  passages  of 
the  house,  into  the  streets.  When  the 
writer  saw  them  placing  the  fainting 
woman  in  a  carriage,  portions  of  their 
clothing  had  been  burned  into  sieve- 
like  perforations,  and  the  hand  of  one 
was  badly  scorched.  The  hotel  in  a 
moment  after  folded  itself  to  the  glow- 
ing foundations,  and  was  among  the 
most  complete  wrecks  of  the  night. 

The  Court  House,  an  incongruous 
structure  of  mottled  hues,  and  yet  with 
fair  pretensions  to  attention,  stood 
alone  in  the  centre  of  a  large  square, 
while  the  fire  was  tumbling  to  the  pave- 
ment the  stately  edifices  on  two  of 
the  streets  around  it.  That  it  must  es- 
cape destruction  was  the  generally- 
granted  theory.  But  if  the  acres  of 
flame  could  not  lay  fiery  grip  upon  it, 
they  could,  aided  by  the  ever -howling 
wind,  send  messengers  of  ruin  hot  and 
fierce  upon  its  roof  and  dome.  Soon 
a  huge  blazing  timber  flew  against  the 
dome.  Instantaneously  the  entire  up- 
per portion  of  the  building  shot  into 
flames.  In  the  lower  portion  of  the 


structure,  which  did  disagreeable  duty 
as  the  County  Jail,  there  were  con- 
fined, on  every  kind  of  criminal  charge, 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  pris- 
oners. The  jailer  and  an  assistant 
turnkey,  at  the  last  moment  compatible 
with  safety,  opened  every  cell  and  re- 
leased each  inmate.  Happy  in  the 
brute  consciousness  that  the  ill  wind 
which  was  showering  extermination 
upon  Chicago,  had,  with  consistent 
ugliness,  blown  a  precious  boon  to 
themselves,  garroters,  thieves,  debtors, 
petty  pilferers,  and  hardened  murder- 
ers, shot  off  into  the  crowds  and  were 
seen  no  more. 

Still  "  eating  into  the  gale,"  the 
course  of  the  conflagration  pushed 
back  upon  itself  until  it  had  swept 
away  the  block  upon  which  stood 
Hooley's  Opera  House,  the  Bryant  and 
Chase  Business  College,  the  Republi- 
can office,  and  other  hardly  less  noted 
structures.  It  had  already  cut  out  the 
northern  part  of  this  and  the  next  ad- 
joining block  east,  and  was  reaching 
in  feverish  anticipation  of  the  revel  in 
store  for  it  at  the  St.  James  Hotel  and 
Crosby's  Opera  House.  In  this  latter 
building  there  were  stored  the  instru- 
ments of  three  of  the  largest  piano 
houses  in  the  country,  art  treasures 
almost  invaluable,  and  the  works  of 
decorators  who  had  for  several  months 
been  laboring  lavishly  at  the  beautify- 
ing of  the  auditorium.  In  the  renova- 
tions of  this  auditorium  the  sum  of 
$80,000  had  just  been  expended,  and 
the  place,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
fire,  stood  complete,  the  finest  temple 
of  Thespis  and  Thalia  in  America.  A 
luxury -loving  public,  who  had  anx- 
iously read  of  its  fair  proportions,  were 
to  have  pronounced  upon  its  beauties 
on  the  night  of  its  destruction.  It  was 
to  have  been  formally  re -dedicated  on 
that  same  evening  by  the  Thomas  Or- 
chestra, every  seat  having  been  sold 
a  week  before.  Many  of  the  more 
valuable  paintings  stored  in  this  estab- 
lishment were  saved,  but  the  number 
of  dollars  consumed  in  choice  pictures 
alone  stepped  a  long  way  into  the  thous- 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


ands ;  while  in  the  fall  of  the  building 
and  the  perishing  of  its  contents,  there 
went  down  a  valuation  of  over  half  a 
million. 

The  fire  had  now  reached  State 
Street,  and  was  again  working  against 
the  course  of  the  gale,  and  pushing  a 
trifle  towards  the  south.  This  division 
of  ruin,  before  reaching  the  corner  oc- 
cupied by  Held,  Leiter  &  Co.'s  grand 
emporium,  had  laid  in  sweltering  ashes 
the  newspaper  offices  of  the  Evening 
Post,  Evening  Mail,  Staats  Zeitting, 
and  Chicago  Times,  besides  destroying 
the  publishing  places  of  many  lesser 
places  and  miscellaneous  publications. 
The  office  of  the  Journal  was  also 
soon  added  to  the  sad  list,  and  then 
there  remained  not  the  home  of  any 
journal  of  importance  save  the  superb 
structure  belonging  to  the  Tribune  Com- 
pany. The  buildings  on  every  corner 
around  it  had  gone,  and  nothing  but 
seething  debris  marked  the  sites  of 
Reynolds  Block,  the  Dearborn  Thea- 
tre, and  the  store  of  Ross  &  Gossage, 
with  the  adjacent  mammoth  carpet 
warerooms  belonging  to  other  firms. 

That  even  now  a  goodly  portion  of 
the  business  centre  of  the  place  must 
be  left  unharmed,  was  the  almost  uni- 
versal theory.  It  was  understood  that 
the  eastward  -  moving  line  of  fire,  which 
had  broken  from  its  companion  column 
near  the  gas  works,  had  spent  its  vio- 
lence. There  was  then  only  the  latter 
to  subjugate,  and  with  the  advent  of 
day  surely  this  could  be  accomplished. 

Remaining  intact  was  the  east  side 
of  Dearborn  Street  to  the  Tribtine 
Building,  and  all  of  the  fine  property 
lying  east  of  State  until  Randolph  was 
reached. 

But  while  this  final  glimmer  of  hope 
came  to  the  hearts  of  the  more  under- 
standing watchers  of  the  fire,  it  was  all 
too  quickly  shut  out  by  the  news  that 
the  flames  had  crossed  into  the  North 
Division.  This  was  at  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  little  before 
day  -  break. 

Hardly  had  this  announcement 
closed  despairingly  around  the  souls 


of  those  who  had  yet  hoped  against 
hope  that  something  of  value  in  Chi- 
cago might  be  saved,  when  the  terrible 
tidings  were  whispered  that  the  Water 
Works  were  in  ruins,  and  that  the  only 
friend  man  had  found  among  the  ele- 
ments in  this  his  hour  of  necessity 
was  taken  from  him. 

There  was  now  absolutely  nothing 
left  but  to  stand  by  and  trace  the  path 
of  accumulating  devastation,  biding 
the  destroying  angel's  pleasure  that  the 
work  of  calamity  should  cease. 

All  along  the  east  side  of  State  Street, 
where  stood  some  of  the  loftiest  marts 
in  the  city,  and  on  Wabash  and  Michi- 
gan Avenues,  it  was  considered  that 
comparative  safety  was  insured.  How- 
ever, many  of  the  dwellers  on  these 
last  thoroughfares,  as  well  as  those  per- 
sons who  owned  mercantile  houses  in 
the  vicinity,  took  the  precaution  to  re- 
move large  quantities  of  their  more 
valuable  goods  to  the  open  spaces  of 
Dearborn  Park,  the  base  ball  grounds, 
and  the  lake  front.  Here  all  was  pre- 
sumably safe,  as  even  if  the  entire  city 
burnt  up,  open  ground  could  not  be 
consumed. 

And  yet  this  very  quarter  was  doomed 
to  be  the  converging  point  for  the  two 
armiqs  of  fire  that  had  parted  from 
each  other  near  the  tar  works.  The 
march  of  the  northward -striding  line, 
with  its  slight  but  steady  inflection  to 
the  east,  has  been  shown.  That  which 
hurried  toward  the  lake  from  the  south- 
ern end  of  the  Michigan  Southern  De- 
pot had  been  slower  in  its  labors,  but 
none  the  less  vindictively  accurate  in 
its  work  of  ruin.  It  had  swept  from 
existence  the  shabbier  structures  of 
Third  and  Fourth  Avenues,  and  had 
crept  unrelentingly  onward  until  De 
Haven  Block  and  the  towering  grand- 
eur of  the  Bigelow  House  and  Honore's 
two  massive  marble  buildings  had  fallen 
into  ruin. 

As  the  three  noble  structures  last 
named  reeled  to  the  ground,  the  day 
was  fully  ushered  in.  But  in  the  murky 
sunlight  the  ruin  still  held  on  ;  when  it 
would  halt,  who  should  now  dare  to 
say? 


DESCRIPTION  OF    THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


From  the  Bigclow  House  to  the  Aca- 
demy of  Design  was  less  than  a  block, 
only  a  bagatelle  of  a  stride  for  the 
giant  of  conflagration  that  was  abroad. 
Within  the  walls  were  husbanded  some 
of  the  noblest  works  of  art  America 
could  boast.  Among  these  were  a 
number  of  paintings  which  had  just 
arrived  in  the  city,  and  which  were  in- 
tended for  display  at  the  forthcoming 
fall  exhibition  ;  a  new  work  by  Bier- 
stadt,  valued  at  $15,000;  dozens  of 
precious  pieces  by  leading  artists  of 
other  cities ;  and  the  studios,  with  most 
of  the  contents,  of  more  than  twenty 
home  painters.  Rothermel's  great 
canvas,  "The  Battle  of  Gettysburg," 
the  property  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  grandest  historical  pic- 
ture in  the  country,  was  cut  from  its 
frame  and  saved.  It  has  been  con- 
veyed within  the  precincts  of  the  com- 
monwealth to  whom  it  came  so  near 
proving  an  irreclaimable  and  irrepar- 
able loss. 

The  Palmer  Hotel,  one  of  the  young- 
est but  already  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  our  world  -  famed  public  houses,  fell 
in  at  nearly  the  same  time  as  the 
Academy. 

Here,  near  the  corner  of  State  and 
Jackson  Streets,  and  upon  Wabash  and 
Michigan  Avenues,  was  now  to  be  wit- 
nessed the  frenzied  stampede  of  thous- 
ands. The  many  were  breaking  in 
crazed  haste  to  escape  from  the  heat, 
and  from  the  sight  of  the  horrible 
scenes  which  had  grown  so  terribly  fa- 
miliar. These  swellers  of  the  panic 
had  in  most  cases  secured  portables  of 
real  or  fancied  value,  and  were  madly, 
selfishly  eager  to  take  themselves,  their 
families,  and  their  chattels,  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  insatiable  fire  demon's 
clutches.  Some  were  on  foot,  stagger- 
ing along  under  the  weight  of  rich 
packs,  and  tugging  at  the  hands  of 
halting  relatives.  Others  were  piled, 
with  stock  from  their  stores,  furniture, 
wives  and  children,  into  vehicles  of  ev- 
er}- conceivable  class,  many  of  which 
had  been  hired  at  fabulous  prices  froin 
their  contemptible  owners.  But  to  add 


to  the  insanity  of  the  scene,  there  were 
men  seeking  to  struggle  in  the  opposite 
direction.  These  were  merchants  who, 
living  in  the  extreme  South  Division, 
and  just  learning  of  the  night's  disas- 
ter, were  dashing  in  on  foot  and  in  their 
carriages,  with  a  fierce  determination 
to  know  if  they  too  had  been  beggared 
while  they  slept. 

The  streets  indicated  were  almost  to- 
tally impassable,  and  so  frantic  was  the 
struggle  of  teams  and  pedestrians  that 
there  were  often  complete  dead  -  locks, 
during  which  not  the  least  progress  was 
made  by  any  one.  But  these  tempo- 
rary stoppages  in  the  retreat  were  in- 
significant in  comparison  to  the  fright- 
ful scenes  which  were  constantly  occur- 
ring in  consequence  of  the  choking  of 
their  roads  and  walks.  Old  men  were 
thrown  down  and  trampled  upon ; 
children  were  lost  from  their  parents ; 
and  the  parents  were  in  many  cases 
parted  from  each  other,  never  to  meet 
again.  Women  were  knocked  to  the 
pavement  by  the  rearing,  madly  -  gal- 
lopping  horses ;  and  several  authenti- 
cated cases  of  child  -  birth,  in  which 
both  mother  and  infant  were  instantly 
killed,  added  their  diabolical  quota  to 
this  newest  of  pandemoniums. 

And  all  the  time  the  fire  was  leaving 
behind,  in  fantastic  mould,  the  hot  evi- 
dences of  its  withering  strength  ;  was 
reaching  ever  forward  for  more  of  splen- 
dor to  level  to  the  earth.  By  the  con- 
tinued blowing  away  of  buildings  in  its 
path,  as  it  prowled  swiftly  east  on  the 
line  of  Harrison  Street,  its  course  seenv 
ed  to  be  diverted  to  the  north  again.  In 
this  was  safety  ;  for  all  that  lay  in  the 
north  must  perish  as  it  was  now  perish- 
ing, and  so  in  that  direction  to  keep 
the  path  of  the  burning  storm  was  the 
only  hope.  Up  again  it  worked,  smit- 
ing down  the  blocks  enclosed  by  State, 
Harrison,  and  Madison  Streets,  and 
Wabash  Avenue.  Here,  as  elsewhere, 
it  fed  its  unglutted  appetite  with  the 
richest  of  fare,  and  stately  churches, 
beautiful  dwellings,  and  proud  trade 
palaces  were  alike  devoured,  walls, 
roof,  consents  and  foundation  stones. 


DESCRIPTION  OF    THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


Before  daybreak  the  thieving  horror 
had  culminated  in  scenes  of  daring 
robbery  unparallelled  in  the  annals  of 
any  similar  disaster.  In  fact,  earlier  in 
the  history  of  the  flames,  the  pilfering 
scoundrels  had  conducted  operations 
with  their  usual  craft  and  cunningness 
at  evading  observation.  But  as  the 
night  wore  on,  and  the  terrors  aggre- 
gated into  an  intensity  of  misery,  the 
thieves,  amateur  and  professional, 
dropped  all  pretences  at  concealment 
and  plied  their  knavish  calling  un- 
daunted by  any  fears  of  immediate  ret- 
ribution. They  would  storm  into  stores, 
smash  away  at  the  the  safes,  and  if,  as 
was  happily  almost  always  the  case, 
they  failed  to  effect  an  opening,  they 
would  turn  their  attention  to  securing 
all  of  value  from  the  stock  that  could 
conveniently  be  made  away  with,  and 
then  plough  off  in  search  of  further 
booty.  The  promise  of  a  share  in  the 
spoils  gave  them  the  assistance  of  ras- 
cally express  -  drivers,  who  stood  with 
their  wagons  before  the  doors  of  stores 
and  waited  as  composedly  for  a  load  of 
stolen  property  to  be  piled  in  as  if  they 
were  receiving  the  honestly  -  acquired 
goods  of  the  best  man  in  the  city.  This 
use  of  the  express  -  drivers  was  a  dou- 
ble curse,  in  that  it  facilitated  the  ab- 
stracting of  plunder,  while  it  also  took 
up  the  time  of  teams  that  might  other- 
wise have  been  used  by  the  merchants. 
The  express  -  wagons  once  heaped  with 
the  loot,  were  driven  pell  -  mell  through 
the  city,  adding  to  trie  dangers  and  the 
accidents  of  the  surcharged  streets,  and 
the  property  was  safely  "  cached  "  in 
the  country. 

Remonstrances  on  the  part  of  the 
owner  availed  nothing.  With  no  one 
to  aid  him  in  the  preservation  of  his 
goods,  or  to  assist  in  the  apprehension 
of  the  villains,  the  merchant  was  com- 
pelled to  stand  quietly  aside  and  see  his 
establishment  systematically  cleaned 
out  by  the  thieves,  and  then  laid  in 
ashes  by  the  flames. 

Several  cases  occurred  in  which  the 
owners  of  stores  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  if  their  places  must  go  and  noth- 


ing could  be  preserved,  some  decent 
people  should  have  the  benefits  accru- 
ing therefrom.  They  accordingly  threw 
open  their  stores  and  issued  a  loudly  - 
delivered  invitation  to  the  crowd  to 
hurry  in  and  take  away  all  they  might 
be  able  to  carry. 

The  scenes  of  robbery  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  sacking  of  stores.  Bur- 
glars would  raid  into  the  private  dwell- 
ings that  lay  in  the  track  of  coming 
destruction,  and  snatch  from  cupboard, 
bureau,  trunk,  or  man  tie -tree,  anything 
which  their  practiced  senses  told  them 
would  be  of  value.  Interference  was 
useless.  The  scoundrels  hunted  in 
squads,  were  inflamed  with  drink,  and 
were  alarmingly  demonstrative  in  the 
flourishing  of  deadly  weapons. 

Sometimes  women  and  children, 
and  not  infrequently  men,  would  be 
stopped  as  they  were  bearing  from  their 
homes  objects  of  especial  worth,  and 
the  articles  would  be  torn  from  their 
grasp  by  gangs  of  these  wretches. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  flow 
of  liquor.  Up  to  three  or  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning  there  was  a  surprisingly 
small  percentage  of  intoxicated  persons 
to  be  counted  in  any  quarter.  But  as 
the  physical  and  mental  exhaustion 
pressed  heavier,  and  as  the  dull  horror 
began  to  settle  upon  each  soul  that  per- 
haps not  one  stone  might  be  left  stand- 
ing upon  another,  the  inexplicable  seek- 
ing for  an  assuage  of  trouble  in  potent 
alcohol  followed.  Saloon  -  keepers  rolled 
barrels  of  the  poison  into  the  street, 
and  the  owners  of  great  liquor  houses 
threw  open  their  doors  to  the  over  - 
wrought  and  haggard  populace.  Men 
drank  then  whose  lips  had  never  before 
been  crossed  by  alcohol ;  while  those 
who  had  hitherto  tasted  of  its  Lethe  - 
draughts  only  on  rare  occasions,  now 
guzzled  like  veteran  soakers. 

This  was  a  new  accession  to  the  woe 
of  the  event.  There  were  hardened 
women  reeling  through  the  crowds, 
howling  ribald  songs  ;  coarse  men  were 
breaking  forth  with  leering  jokes  and 
maudlin  blasphemy ;  women  of  the 
highest  culture  tossing  down  glasses  of 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


raw  whiskey ;  ladies  with  cinder  and 
tear  -  begrimed  faces,  pressing  the  cups 
with  jewelled  fingers ;  while  of  rich  and 
poor,  well-bred  and  boors,  the  high 
and  the  lowly,  there  were  few  who  did 
not  appear  to  have  been  seized  with  the 
idea  that  tired  nature  must  finally  suc- 
cumb unless  the  friendly  stimulant  was 
used.  All  were  not  intoxicated ;  all 
were  not  drinkers.  There  were  proba- 
bly thousands  who  found  in  the  taste 
of  wine,  or  stronger  fluids,  the  nerv- 
ing to  new  deeds  of  heroism  and  quiet 
bravery.  But  the  drunken  phase  was 
a  terribly  prominent  one,  and  one  that 
entailed  an  awful  addition  to  the  woes 
of  the  conflagration. 

At  about  eight  o'clock  on  Monday 
morning,  the  enormous  branch  of  the 
fire  which  had  cut  its  way  eastward, 
with  a  pronounced  deflection  to  the 
north,  and  which  a  few  hours  before 
was  erroneously  supposed  to  have  been 
checked,  almost  joined  its  resistless 
power  to  its  companion  branch  from 
which  it  had  been  cleft  at  the  gas- 
works. This  junction  was  not,  how- 
ever, quite  formed,  owing  to  a  fitful 
change  in  the  artificial  wind  -  currents 
which  sent  the  line  of  flame  that  had 
destroyed  the  Bigelow  and  Palmer 
Houses,  Honore  and  other  blocks,  a  lit- 
tle to  the  westward,  sealing  the  fate  of 
McYicker's  Theatre  building  and  the 
block  adjoining  the  Tribune  Building 
on  the  south. 

Although  taught  by  the  cruel  lessons 
of  the  night  that  it  was  hoping  against 
hope  to  think  to  preserve  any  of  the 
buildings  on  which  the  fire  demon  had 
turned  1  is  baleful  eye,  there  were  still 
a  few  undaunted  workers  ready  to  en- 
gage in  another  combat  with  the  foe. 
Earlier  in  the  night,  a  huge  tar  caul- 
dron that  had  been  left  a  few  days  be- 
fore by  some  roofers  in  front  of  Mc- 
Vicker's,  had  been  laid  hold  of  by  sev- 
eral young  men  and  dragged  where  it 
should  be  incapable  of  mischief.  Much 
of  the  combustibles  stored  in  the  alleys 
was  also  removed,  and  then  all  was 
done  that  could  be  done,  save  to  hope. 
At  the  Tribune  Building,  men  for  a 


time  occupied  the  roof,  sweeping  away 
coals,  while  another  force  was  alert  for 
similar  duty  at  the  doorways  and  win- 
dows. 

But,  with  exultant  derision  at  all  the 
puny  efforts  put  forth  to  cheat  it  of  its 
prey,  the  conflagration  closed  hope- 
lessly around  this  block.  McVicker's 
naturally  gave  way  first.  The  Tribune 
Building  was  not  long  in  following,  and 
although  at  first  offering  a  stubborn 
front,  was  eventually  left  a  haughty 
but  none  the  less  complete  wreck.  It 
was  a  wreck  doubly  assured,  in  that 
although  presenting  for  days  afterward 
a  more  imposing  display  as  a  ruin  than 
most  of  its  contemporaries,  it  was  still 
so  insecure  as  to  lead  to  the  death  of 
men  who  trusted  to  its  stability  in  seek- 
ing to  repair  it. 

The  line  of  bookstores  comprising 
the  celebrated  "  Booksellers'  Row,"  a 
handsomer  congregation  of  houses  de- 
voted to  the  dissemination  of  universal 
literature  than  existed  in  such  friendly 
neighborhood  in  any  city  upon  the 
globe,  perished  at  nearly  the  same  time 
as  the  edifices  whose  fate  has  just  been 
described. 

A  little  further  to  the  north  was  the 
elegant  architectural  pile  occupied  as  a 
dry  goods  store  by  Field,  Leiter  &  Co. 
During  the  previous  hours,  as  the 
waves  of  conflagration  were  beating 
savagely  around  it,  copious  floodings 
of  water  had  been  emptied  over  every 
portion  of  this  structure.  Its  internal 
economy  included  an  extensive  system 
of  pipes,  conduits,  and  hose,  connected 
with  the  water  mains  under  ground.  It 
was  through  the  aid  of  these  that  the 
drenching  was  kept  up  ;  and  had  it  not 
been  for  the  sad  failing  of  the  Water 
Works  in  the  North  Division,  the  un- 
exampled furnace  blasts  which  were 
howling  on  nearly  even-  side  of  it  could 
not  have  materially  affected  this  build- 
ing. Smaller  structures,  including  the 
Cobb  Library  house,  were  demolished 
with  powder  in  hope  of  saving  Field, 
Leiter  £  Co.'s  building.  But  the  same 
weary  story  of  unavailing  labor,  of 
hasty  firing  and  speedy  destruction, 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


33 


that  had  been  repeated  over  and  over 
again,  ensued  here.  At  the  final  sur- 
render of  this  edifice,  the  four  walls  of 
which  rolled  in  dismal  thunder  into  the 
basement  at  nearly  the  same  instant, 
there  was  seen  a  strangely  attractive 
gulf  of  glowing  iron  pillars,  braces,  and 
columns,  shimmering  in  the  white  and 
red  heat  of  the  flames. 

And  now,  with  its  forces  joined  to 
the  companion  column  of  ruin  which 
had  swept  away  so  much  of  wealth 
and  beauty  elsewhere,  and  had  sent  a 
twin -demon  of  fire  carousing  in  devas- 
tating revelry  through  the  North  Side, 
the  battalions  of  flame  that  had  just 
accomplished  the  destruction  of  the 
Field,  Leiter  &  Co.'s  building,  moved  on 
toward  the  lake  front.  From  Harrison 
Street  down  a  portion  of  State  Street 
and  Wabash  Avenue,  a  few  blocks  of 
fine  buildings  had  thus  far  been  spared, 
while  a  great  desert  of  smouldering 
waste  was  stretched  far  into  the  west 
and  north. 

The  allied  army  of  flame  threw  out 
its  broad  arms  in  the  direction  of  the 
lake  —  the  huge  branches  of  fire  some- 
times streaming,  borne  upon  the  pin- 
ions of  the  gale,  for  whole  blocks. 
Along  the  lake  front  and  upon  the 
base  ball  grounds  were  huddled  thou- 
sands of  people ;  and,  as  has  been 
noticed,  there  were  also  stacked  in  that 
neighborhood  the  richest  of  wares  from 
adjacent  stores,  and  the  rarest  of  fur- 
niture and  fittings  from  private  houses. 
The  goods  had  here  been  stored  under 
the  care  of  trusty  watchers,  as  a  spot 
perfectly  secure  from  destruction,  while 
ihe  vast  crowds  of  homeless  people 
had  gradually  centred  here  for  the 
same  reason. 

Suddenly  it  seemed  that  the  fire  had 
for  the  first  time  discovered  this  as- 
semblage of  humanity  and  property. 
The  flames  had  feasted  already  upon 
all  that  was  rich  and  rare  in  commerce, 
art,  and  literature;  had  been  gorged 
with  the  proud  wonders  of  architecture, 
and  had  tasted  the  sweet  morsel  of 
roasting,  suffocating  men,  women,  and 
children.  And  yet  here  had  ventured 
3 


to  congregate  a  crowd  of  human  beings 
with  a  few  of  the  more  precious  of  their 
stores,  as  if  to  defy,  in  one  place  a'; 
least,  the  omnipotent  fury. 

The  conflagration  swung  its  broad 
tongues  of  fire  for  acres,  lapping  greed- 
ily at  the  grand  structures  in  the  lower 
ends  of  Wabash  and  Michigan  Ave- 
nues, and  fairly  pinning  the  terrified 
concourse  between  two  enormous  lines 
of  fire  which  were  steadily  compressing 
together  from  their  right  -  angle  diverg- 
ence. The  fire  fattened  upon  what  it 
fed,  and  grew  momentarily  larger,  lus- 
tier, fiercer.  It  sent  off  a  rain  of  brands, 
burning  timbers,  and  huge  sparks,  and 
flecked  the  air  with  myriads  of  blazing 
bits  of  material  over  the  heads  of  the 
affrighted  thousands. 

A  panic  as  complete  as  any  that  had 
reigned  in  other  portions  of  the  city 
followed.  The  crowd  leaped  instinc- 
tively for  the  south,  and  shot  along  the 
strip  of  park  by  the  lake  in  bare  time 
to  escape  the  hurricane  of  fire  that  was 
seeking  to  cut  off  their  retreat  at  the 
foot  of  Washington  Street.  The  ac- 
cumulated goods  took  fire,  and  in  a 
few  minutes,  with  the  fences,  seats,  and 
pavilion  of  the  base  ball  grounds,  were 
withered  to  ashes,  and  the  ashes 
swirled  out  into  the  wailing  waters  of 
the  lake. 

Nothing  remained  for  the  fire  to 
finish  the  plumb  line  of  ruin  which 
seemed  to  have  been  drawn  along  Har- 
rison Street,  but  to  turn  back  and  chop 
away  at  the  few  beautiful  blocks  which 
were  standing  in  a  mournful  fringe  on 
Michigan  and  a  portion  of  Wabash 
Avenues.  These  were  several  majes- 
tic churches,  the  imposing  proportions 
of  Terrace  Row,  and  the  numerous 
costly  dwellings  of  men  who  a  little 
time  before  might  have  been  rated  as 
merchant  princes,  but  who  were  now 
alternating  between  a  moderate  com- 
petence and  stark  beggary.  Several 
buildings  were  blown  up,  but  it  was  the 
same  tale  over  again.  The  flames 
would  bridge  the  gap,  and  the  ruin 
would  sweep  on  as  before. 

Terrace  Row  was  the  last  to  yield. 


34 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


It  was  a  beautiful  edifice,  solidly  con- 
structed, and  in  the  face  of  any  com- 
mon fire  would  have  refused  to  submit. 
But  after  burning  some  three  hours, 
during  which  time  a  large  share  of  the 
superb  equipments  of  the  many  dis- 
tinguished homes  were  transferred  to  a 
safe  place,  the  last  wall  of  the  building 
reeled  to  the  earth ;  and  in  the  South 
Division  there  remained  north  of  Har- 
rison Street  only  the  blocks  of  build- 
ings east  of  Wabash  Avenue  and  south 
of  Congress  Street,  the  Wabash  Ave- 
nue Methodist  Church,  now  converted 
into  a  Post  Office,  standing  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  Avenue  and 
Harrison  Street,  the  five -story  building 
already  named  at  the  east  end  of  Ran- 
dolph Street  bridge,  and  the  Illinois 
Central  Elevator  just  north  of  the  once 
magnificent  depot  of  the  company. 

Although  the  destruction  proper  did 
not  commence  until  shortly  before  six 
o'clock  in  the  North  Division,  the  work 
of  ruin  in  that  section  of  the  city  ante- 
dated this  time  in  that  a  part  of  Lill's 
Brewery  and  the  Water  Works  were 
consumed  between  four  and  five  o'clock. 

That  the  Water  Works  should  have 
burned  at  so  early  a  period,  and  before 
the  main  body  of  the  flames  had 
reached  the  North  Side  at  all,  has 
given  rise  to  a  deal  of  very  natural 
wonderment.  The  fact  of  this  deplor- 
able phenomenon  taking  place  pointed 
the  arguments  and  gave  redoubled 
force  to  the  assertions  of  those  who 
were  determined  that  incendiaries  were 
responsible  for  the  whole  city's  incre- 
mation. There  is  no  reasonable  ground, 
and  never  was,  for  declaring  that  the 
firing  of  the  Water  Works  was  due  to 
malice.  For  hours  the  roaring  wind 
had  borne  all  the  way  from  the  perish- 
ing buildings  of  the  West  and  South 
Divisions  blazing  messengers  of  ruin 
in  almost  a  direct  course  to  the  Water 
Works.  That  many  of  the  cheaper 
buildings  in  the  North  Division  did  not 
take  fire  an  hundred  times  was  much 
more  of  a  miracle  than  that  one  or  two 
edifices  were  prematurely  consumed. 
The  fact  that  it  was  the  Water  Works 


that  burned  so  early  of  course  attracted 
particular  attention,  whereas  had  a 
score  of  insignificant  sheds  elsewhere 
blazed  up  at  one  time,  it  would  have 
been  laid  to  the  same  causes  that  led 
to  the  destruction  of  the  brewery  shed, 
with  its  companion  calamity. 

The  air  of  the  North  Division, at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  was  alive  with 
burning,  flying  wood;  and  these  whirl- 
ing brands,  dropping  upon  a  shed  con- 
nected with  Lill's  Brewery,  shot  the 
flimsy  structure  into  a  sharp  blaze. 
From  here  the  destruction  was  par- 
tially extended  to  the  Water  Works,  as 
the  attention  of  the  engineer  and  his 
assistant  was  drawn  away  from  its 
proper  post,  during  which  time  a  large 
shower  of  larger  sparks  than  usuai 
came  pelting  upon  the  roof  of  a  shed 
close  to  the  building  in  their  charge. 
WTith  the  terrible  gale  which  raged  all 
the  higher  near  the  open  front  of  the 
lake,  it  was  impossible  to  stay  the  course 
of  destruction ;  and  soon  the  works 
were  so  badly  injured  as  to  check  the 
working  of  the  engines,  and  Chicago 
was  without  water  at  the  moment  when 
water  was  to  her  the  one  great  thing 
needful. 

The  full  work  of  burning  out  the 
North  Division,  as  before  stated,  began 
at  a  short  time  before  six  o'clock,  or  a 
full  two  hours  after  the  immolation  of 
the  pumping  works  had  stopped  the 
supply  of  water. 

No  less  than  four  different  spots  have 
been  designated  as  the  precise  point  at 
which  the  destruction  of  the  North  Side 
began.  All  of  the  assertions  are  to  the 
effect  that  the  bridges  were  the  con- 
ductors of  the  flames,  although  a  few 
claim  in  addition  that  the  shipping  as- 
sisted in  ferrying  the  fire  across.  The 
most  reliable  statements,  and  those 
which  are  numerically  the  strongest, 
assert  that  Rush  Street  bridge  passed 
the  flames  over  the  river,  and  that  once 
across  they  danced  briskly  up  to  the 
Galena  Elevator,  which  was  soon  en- 
veloped in  fire. 

Here,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  city, 
was  witnessed  the  strange  spectacle  of 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  CREA  T  FIRE. 


35 


the  wind  driving  the  body  of  flame  in 
one  direction  while  flankers  of  fire  ate 
along  almost  against  the  gale.  The 
conflagration  crept  quickly  west  in  an 
almost  due  line  along  North  Water, 
Kinzie,  and  Illinois  Streets,  until  a 
solid  barrier  of  flame  two  blocks  in 
thickness  was  created  from  the  lake  to 
the  river. 

Every  bridge  on  the  main  channel 
had  by  this  time  been  destroyed,  and 
when  the  end  of  La  Salle  Street  was 
reached,  the  heat  created  around  its 
narrow  orifice  a  suction  so  vehement  as 
to  pull  through  flames  from  the  great 
warehouses  on  its  southern  extremity. 
The  massive  blocks  of  stone  forming 
the  towers  were  shattered,  while  the 
heavy  masonry  approaches  and  wind- 
ing steps  at  either  end  were  split, 
seamed,  and  cracked,  and  in  some 
instances  were  burned  to  powder.  As 
a  proof  that  the  flam?s  were  sucked 
through  the  greater  portion  of  the  tun- 
nel, it  was  found,  several  days  after, 
when  the'  rubbish  had  been  cleared 
from  its  openings  and  transit  once 
more  made  convenient,  that  the  wooden 
wainscotting,  extending  waist -high 
along  its  interior,  had  been  calcined, 
and  was  at  the  northern  end  in  perfect 
charcoal  condition. 

The  wall  of  flame  once  built  over  the 
river  terminus  of  the  North  Side,  its 
previous  tactics  were  abandoned,  and 
it  held  straight  on  until  it  had  brushed 
the  North  Division  from  existence.  It 
was  an  enormous  phalanx  of  fire  from 
two  to  five  blocks  in  thickness,  extend- 
ing from  one  side  of  the  Division  to  the 
other.  To  seek  to  pass  through  it  and 
strike  for  the  main  channel  of  the 
river  was  as  far  from  possibility  as  it 
would  have  been  to  walk  through  a 
smelting  furnace  a  thousand  fold  hotter 
than  ever  was  made,  to  scale  the 
heavens,  or  to  ford  the  lake.  There 
was  time  to  think  of  doing  but  one 
thing,  and  that  one  thing  was  to  flee. 
Those  who  yielded  to  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation  and  rushed  far  to  the 
northward  as  fast  as  quaking  limbs 
would  bear  them,  unmindful  of  friends, 


of  relatives,  or  of  precious  mementos 
of  their  disappearing  homes,  were  alone 
certain  of  safety. 

The  lighter  structures  with  which  this 
Division  abounded  gave  the  magnifi- 
cently hideous  legions  of  flame  a  glori- 
ous opportunity  of  keeping  their  lurid 
ranks  unshaken,  and  the  wall  of  fire 
never  presented  an  opening  until  the 
wooded  confines  of  the  extreme  north- 
ern part  of  the  Division  were  attained. 
Sometimes  a  specially  obdurate  struc- 
ture, as  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy 
Name,  or  the  monster  breweries  of 
Sands,  Huck,  and  others,  would  resist 
for  a  brief  moment,  when  a  slight  gap 
would  show  on  the  face  of  the  flaming 
barrier.  But  ere  the  rear  of  the  column 
could  pass,  the  ruin  would  be  as  com- 
plete as  if  the  building  had  disappeared 
from  view  at  the  first  attack. 

From  the  expressions  of  some  of  the 
more  intelligent  of  those  who  were 
making  a  push  for  the  open  country  to 
the  far  north,  the  sight  must  have  pos- 
sessed a  certain  terrible  grandeur  that 
was  not  to  be  observed  in  the  detached 
work  of  devastation  either  in  the  West 
or  the  South  Divisions.  Here  it  was 
straightforward  and  unrelenting  as 
destiny.  It  was  a  phalanx  of  fire  ex- 
tending as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach 
to  the  east  and  the  west.  Behind  it 
none  could  see,  and  as  to  what  might 
be  its  solid  thickness  the  stricken  ones 
before  it  had  no  means  of  determining. 
To  them  it  appeared  as  if  the  world 
itself  must  be  on  fire,  and  that  the 
flames  were  swiftly  following  their 
course  around  the  entire  globe. 

The  conflagration  in  this  Division 
was  more  unforgiving  than  elsewhere, 
for  here  it  spared  only  the  merest  frag- 
ment. In  the  other  two  portions  of 
the  city  it  had  been  satisfied  with  eat- 
ing away  a  monstrous  cavity  on  one 
side  of  the  river,  and  with  cutting  the 
head  from  the  body  of  the  second  sec- 
tion of  the  town.  But  in  the  North  it 
seemed  to  have  determined  that  not  a 
house  should  be  left  to  boast  itself 
luckier  or  more  irresistible  than  its 
humbled  fellows.  How  one  dwelling 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


was  saved  in  the  midst  of  the  surround- 
ing desolation,  and  how  a  little  slice  on 
the  northwest  corner  of  the  Division 
was  also  spared,  form  two  of  the  most 
peculiarly  interesting  incidents  of  the 
whole  record  of  ruin. 

The  story  of  the  preservation  of  Mah- 
lon  D.  Ogden's  residence,  a  large  and 
comfortable  frame  structure  situated  al- 
most in  the  heart  of  the  North  Side, 
has  already  been  fully  given  by  the 
unwearying  workers  of  the  daily  press. 
Briefly  reproduced,  the  truth  and 
marvel  of  the  affair  is  that  the  build- 
ing was  in  the  middle  of  a  block,  all 
the  other  lots  of  which  formed  its  ele- 
gant garden.  On  the  streets  upon  its 
four  sides  were  not  many  large  build- 
ings; while  just  as  the  fire  approached 
it  from  the  southwest  there  was  a  slight 
lull  in  the  fury  of  the  wind.  This  al- 
lowed the  flames  to  shoot  straighter  in- 
to the  air,  and  before  the  storm  had 
again  bent  them  forward  in  search  of 
further  fuel,  the  structures  upon  which 
they  were  immediately  feeding  had 
been  reduced  to  ashes,  and  a  break 
made  in  the  terrible  wall  of  fire.  The 
exertions  of  Mr.  Ogden  and  his  family 
in  covering  the  roof  and  walls  of  the 
house  with  carpets,  quilts,  and  blankets, 
which  were  kept  constantly  wet  with 
water  from  a  cistern  which  happened 
to  be  in  his  place,  also  aided  materially 
in  the  salvation  of  their  home,  which 
was  the  only  unharmed  building  for 
miles.  But  the  brief  cessation  of  the 
tempest's  violence  was,  after  all,  the 
chief  cause  of  this  singular  exception, 
as  even  the  fence  which  was  on  the 
windward  side  of  the  dwelling  was  only 
slightly  scorched. 

Precisely  how  the  corner  of  the  North 
Division,  lying  adjacent  to  the  river,  in 
the  extreme  northwest,  was  saved,  has 
not,  it  is  believed,  ever  been  made 
public. 

At  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  fatal  Monday,  Mr.  Samuel  Ellis, 
an  officer  of  the  city  detective  force, 
who  will  be  favorably  remembered  as 
Dixon's  associate  in  the  working  up  of 
the  celebrated  Ziegenmeyer  case,  form- 


ed a  small  company  of  his  friends  into 
a  preventive  squad.  Ellis  and  the 
friends  whom  he  summoned  to  his  as- 
sistancewere  living  in  a  long,  handsome 
block  on  Lincoln  Avenue,  between  So- 
phia and  Webster  Avenues.  At  the 
corner  of  this  block,  and  intervening 
in  the  course  of  the  rapidly  approach- 
ing flames,  between  the  block  and  the 
street,  was  a  small  frame  house  belong- 
ing to  a  widow  lady.  Divining  at  once 
that  if  this  corner  house  could  be  saved 
perhaps  the  block  in  which  he  lived 
might  also  be  spared,  Detective  Ellis 
directed  and  aided  his  little  company 
with  remarkable  sagacity.  There  was 
a  cistern  in  the  yard  full  of  water,  and 
here  was  an  invaluable  ally  able  to 
preserve  the  widow's  house,  if  under- 
standingly  used,  and  if  mortal  fore- 
thought and  energy  could  preserve 
anything  in  this  most  unsparing  of 
conflagrations.  The  roof  of  the  build- 
ing, as  well  as  doorways  and  window- 
sills,  were  covered  quickly  with  a  deep 
coating  of  sand  which  was  soaked  with 
water.  Quilts,  carpets,  and  blankets 
were  next  procured,  and  the  cottage 
was  fairly  swathed  in  them,  and  again 
the  friendly  water  was  called  in  until 
they  were  thoroughly  drenched.  The 
fences  contiguous  were  ripped  down, 
and  the  wooden  sidewalks  torn  up. 

By  this  time  the  huge  sheet  of  fire 
was  close  upon  the  busy  workers,  and 
they  were  forced  to  rush  back  and  trust 
that  their  efforts  might  not  have  been 
in  vain,  as  had  been  the  no  less  ardu- 
ous labors  of  thousands  in  other  parts 
of  Chicago.  The  fire  reached  sharply 
over  and  licked  around  the  enshrouded 
house,  but  before  it  could  dry  the  cov- 
erings of  wet  sand  and  cloth,  the  force 
of  its  strength  in  that  quarter  was  spent, 
and  a  fresh  gust  of  the  tempest  sent  it 
slanting  toward  the  lake. 

The  corner  house  was  saved  ;  so  also 
was  the  adjacent  block,  and  by  this 
means  a  fragment  of  the  North  Divis- 
ion enough  to  form  of  itself  a  village, 
closely  settled,  of  a  very  respectable 
magnitude. 

Cheated  of  its  purpose  in  ploughing 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


away  every  vestige  of  the  North  Divis- 
ion, the  fire  drove  wickedly  onward  in 
the  direction  of  Lincoln  Park  and 
Wright's  Grove,  and  ceased  not  in  its 
work  of  ruin  until  Fullerton  Avenue, 
the  extreme  northern  limit  of  the  city, 
was  attained. 

Here,  with  nothing  further  upon 
which  it  could  riot,  it  at  last  died  away 
into  the  second  night  of  its  carouse ; 
and,  just  as  a  long  -  prayed  -  for  rain 
came  pattering  coolly  down,  the  Chi- 
cago fire  passed  into  history. 

By  nightfall  of  Monday,  a  great  num- 
ber of  refugees  had  collected  in  the 
cemetery  at  the  south  end  of  Lincoln 
Park,  and  many  had  endeavored  to 
dispose  themselves  as  comfortably  as 
possible  until  the  light  of  another  morn- 
ing should  enable  them  make  their 
final  escape.  But  the  fire -wraith  hes- 
itated not  at  the  pollution  of  the 
quiet  homes  of  the  dead,  and  was  soon 
curling  the  leaves  and  snapping  the 
brush  at  the  cemetery's  entrance.  An- 
other stampede  was  all  that  was  left  to 
the  heart -sick  multitude  of  living  ones, 
who  had  vainly  thought  to  catch  a  few 
hours  of  fitful  rest  upon  the  graves  of 
the  sleepers  below,  whom  even  this  ty- 
rant conflagration  could  not  touch. 
Out  from  the  cemetery  swarmed  the 
stricken  ones,  and  into  the  park,  from 
which  they  were  again  routed  by  the 
untiring  pursuit  of  the  wind  and  the 
flames. 

The  only  rest  was  upon  the  chilly 
margin  of  the  lake  and  the  bleak  wil- 
derness of  the  open  prairies.  The  edge 
of  the  lake  was  lined  with  its  dreary 
quota  of  those  who,  twenty-four  hours 
before,  had  gone  to  rest  in  happy  homes 
at  the  close  of  a  Sabbath  differing  to 
them  from  no  other  Sabbath  which  had 
preceded  it,  but  which  was  the  dividing 
line  between  prosperity  and  utter  ruin. 

Only  a  few  of  the  incidents  of  the  con- 
flagration can  be  added  to  those  previ- 
ously given. 

Mr.  J.  H.  McVicker,  proprietor  of 
McVicker's  .  Theatre,  going  into  his 
building  by  a  side  door  from  the  alley, 
just  as  the  flames  had  fully  closed  upon 


the  structure,  was  driven  back  by  the 
heat  and  the  smoke.  But  on  reaching 
the  open  alley,  he  was  placed  in  a  still 
more  dangerous  plight,  being  caught  in 
one  of  the  howling  currents  of  air,  cre- 
ated by  the  heat,  which  were  whirling 
through  in  an  exactly  opposite  direction 
from  the  main  course  of  the  gale. 
This  brought  a  shower  of  sparks  and 
burning  bits  of  timber  upon  him,  and 
before  he  could  escape  a  tongue  of  fire 
was  swaying  through  the  alley.  Throw- 
ing himself  upon  his  hands  and  knees, 
he  crawled  out  to  the  next  street  as  rap- 
idly as  possible ;  but  when  he  reached 
a  place  of  comparative  safety,  he  found 
himself  almost  blinded  by  the  heat 
and  the  smoke,  so  that  he  did  not  re- 
gain the  full  use  of  his  eyes  for  weeks. 
At  the  burning  of  the  Oriental  Block 
on  La  Salle  Street,  opposite  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  a  man  remained  in  the 
third  story  long  after  the  building  had 
fired,  composedly  carrying  his  goods  to 
a  window  and  dropping  them  out,  when 
they  were  thrown  into  an  express  wagon 
by  his  partner  and  two  friends.  A  rope 
was  all  the  while  dangling  from  the 
window;  and  when  his  companions 
and  the  crowd  implored  him  to  de- 
sist from  his  work  and  leave  the 
doomed  building,  he  would  shout  back, 
pointing  to  the  cord,  "  That  is  my  stair- 
way, now  don't  you  fret  for  me ! "  At 
length,  after  every  staircase  in  the 
house  was  in  flames,  and  escape  by  the 
ordinary  avenues  was  impossible,  he 
came  to  the  window  with  some  books 
and  money  from  the  safe  which  he  had 
opened.  Throwing  the  books  to  his 
friends,  he  quietly  shoved  the  money 
into  his  bosom  and  proceeded  to  crawl 
out  and  let  himself  to  the  ground  by 
the  rope,  hand  over  hand  in  the  most 
approved  sailor  fashion.  He  was  with- 
in a  few  feet  of  the  pavement,  when  the 
flames,  breaking  through  a  window 
from  an  apartment  under  which  he  had 
been  at  work,  burned  the  rope  instantly 
to  a  snapping  condition.  It  parted, 
and  the  brave  fellow  tumbled  upon  his 
side,  dislocating  his  shoulder.  He 
scrambled  up  and  was  lifted  into  the 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


wagon  by  his  friends,  muttering  be- 
tween his  shut  teeth  as  he  patted  the 
money  in  his  breast  with  his  sound  arm, 
"Three  thousand  dollars  all  safe!  I 
guess  that  '11  settle  the  doctor's  bills." 

In  the  West  Division,  just  before  the 
Van  Buren  Street  bridge,  the  steam  fire 
engine  "  Fred  Gund  "  had  been  sta- 
tioned, and  with  but  a  short  stretch  of 
hose,  and  a  perfect  salamander  of  a 
pipeman,  was  endeavoring  to  do  its  lit- 
tle share  toward  checking  the  further 
advance  of  the  foe.  But  soon  the  heat 
grew  too  savage  for  even  the  case- 
hardened  firemen.  The  hose  pipe  from 
which  the  water  was  still  shooting  was 
leaned  upon  a  fence,  and,  as  the  horses 
had  been  taken  away,  the  pipe  and 
engine  men  were  forced  sadly  to  relin- 
quish their  beloved  "tub,"  and  sorrow- 
fully retire  across  the  bridge.  But  there 
stood  the  "  Fred  Gund,"  with  steam  up, 
jumping  to  its  work  as  merrily  as  ever, 
while  a  little  way  in  front  the  stream 
was  sputtering  as  briskly  into  the  flames 
as  though  it  was  playing  only  upon 
the  flickering  shed  of  a  reporter's  "  in- 
cipient fire,"  or  was  engaged  in  the 
friendly  rivalry  of  a  peaceful  "muster" 
with  some  brother  engine.  The  steam- 
er, rattling  in  every  joint,  was  heard 
shaking  and  blowing  long  after  the 
flames  had  shut  it  from  sight. 

The  burning  of  the  Van  Buren  Street 
bridge  immediately  after,  led  to  a  pecu- 
liarly picturesque  scene.  As  the  fire 
approached  its  western  end,  the  men 
whose  duty  it  was  to  swing  the  struc- 
ture, warned  everybody  to  leave,  by  an 
energetic  tug  at  the  bell.  They  then 
applied  the  turn -lever,  and,  giving  two 
or  three  hasty  spins  as  a  starter,  darted 
to  the  south  side  and  squeezed  through 
to  the  street.  The  bridge,  by  the  im- 
pulse thus  given,  slowly  swung  open, 
but  not  in  time  to  prevent  the  western 
end  from  catching  fire.  In  a  moment 
it  was  a  grand,  fantastic  frame -work 
of  flames,  and  in  the  eddies  of  the  tem- 
pest and  the  artificial  currents  of  heat 
was  kept  swinging  to  and  fro,  a  huge 
specimen  of  grotesque  pyrotechnics, 
which  but  for  the  overshadowing  im- 


portance of  preceding  and  subsequent 
events  would  have  furnished  a  charm- 
ing theme  for  description  by  skilled 
reportorial  pens. 

The  old  perverse  absurdity,  so  com- 
mon in  seasons  of  great  excitement, 
which  leads  frantic  humanity  to  fritter 
away  the  priceless  moments  in  the  per- 
petration of  deliberate  stupidities,  had 
a  thousand  illustrations  during  the  fire. 
Those  who  threw  the  looking  glass  out 
of  the  window,  and  laboriously  tugged 
the  feather  bed  down  stairs,  had  innu- 
merable representatives  and  counter- 
parts. A  prominent  legal  gentleman, 
whose  office  was  in  Reynolds'  Block, 
was  guilty  of  solemnly  enwrapping  a 
wash  basin,  pitcher,  spittoon,  and  two 
imitation  bronze  statuettes,  in  a  table- 
spread,  and  dropping  them  over  the 
banister  of  the  twisting  stairway  at  the 
northern  end  of  the  building,  after 
which  he  shuffled  back  and  groped 
around  until  he  had  loaded  his  amis 
with  substantial  law  books,  which  he 
enthusiastically  bore  in  safety  to  the 
sidewalk. 

The  Thomas  Orchestra,  stopping  at 
the  Sherman  House,  met  with  adven- 
tures numerous.  The  more  interesting 
ones,  in  the  present  connection,  were 
that  nearly  every  member  grasped  a 
linen  coat,  a  pipe,  a  piece  of  portable 
furniture,  or  something  of  like  impor- 
tance, and  bore  it  proudly  into  the 
street,  leaving  the  musical  instruments 
with  which  their  fame  and  daily  bread 
were  to  be  earned,  behind  them.  The 
accomplished  Miss  Marie  Krebs,  the 
pianiste  of  the  party,  emerged  from  the 
blazing  pile  in  a  condition  of  complete 
tranquillity.  She  had  covered  her  per- 
son with  a  dingy  morning  wrapper,  and 
had  secured,  at  the  last  instant,  about 
half  the  score  of  one  of  Strauss'  waltzes, 
and  she  clung  to  that  bit  of  sheet  music 
with  all  the  persistency  of  a  woman  who 
had  saved  her  mo~i  sacred  heirloom 
from  destruction. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  fierce 
rain  of  sparks  that  fell  in  the  South  and 
North  Divisions,  borne  from  the  burn- 
ing edifices  of  the  West  Side,  long 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREA  T  FIRE. 


39 


before  the  fire  had  reached  the  South 
Branch  of  the  river.  These  sparks 
pelted  down  in  a  shower  so  sharp  that 
it  is  a  marvel  the  igniting  of  the  other 
two  divisions  was  so  long  delayed.  As 
an  evidence  of  the  intensity  of  this 
blazing  rain,  it  is  recalled  that  the 
clothing  of  those  in  the  streets  and  of 
the  watchers  upon  the  house  tops  were 
often  burned  full  of  holes,  and  in  some 
instances  were  actually  started  into 
flame. 

Another  incident  must  close  the  list 
here  given,  although  the  remembrance 
of  others  is  well-nigh  interminable, 
and  the  temptation  to  recount  them  is 
difficult  to  resist 

At  the  destruction  ot  the  St.  James 
Hotel,  a  gentleman,  whose  wife  was 
bed  -  ridden  at  that  establishmenti  after 
a  wearying  search  commenced  an  hour 
before,  had  secured  the  services  of  a 
hackman  and  his  team  for  the  lady's 
removal.  The  driver  had  demanded 
the  outrageous  sum  of  sixty  dollars, 
and  not  only  refused  to  abate  a  penny 
from  that  amount,  but  was  not  inclined 
to  stop  and  dicker,  preferring  to  drive 
around  the  city,  sure  of  meeting  some- 
body whose  necessities  would  ensure 
him  as  much,  if  not  more,  than  his 
modest  demand.  The  gentleman,  how- 
ever, was  only  too  glad  to  obtain  a  com- 
fortable conveyance  at  any  figure ;  and 
the  bargain  was  closed,  and  the  carriage 
driven  to  the  hotel.  The  lady  was 
then  brought  down  to  the  door,  and  a 
break  was  made  in  the  crowd  upon  the 
walk  to  allow  of  her  being  carried  to 
the  hack. 

Just  at  this  moment  up  ran  the  pro- 
prietor of  a  leading  jewelry  house, 
whose  richly -stored  building  was  but  a 
few  blocks  away.  Justice  to  him  re- 
quires it  be  observed  that  he  did  not 
understand  the  status  of  affairs.  He 
only  saw  an  unemployed  carriage. 
Breathlessly  addressing  the  tender- 
hearted driver,  he  said  : 


"  Here,  my  man  !  I  've  tried  for  two 
hours  to  get  hold  of  an  express  wagon, 
and  it 's  no  use.  I  can  make  your  hack 
do  as  well,  I  guess.  I  '11  give  you  a 
five  hundred  dollar  note  to  let  me  pack 
it  full  of  my  goods,  as  many  times  as  I 
can  between  now  and  the  time  the  fire 
gets  to  the  store." 

"  Good  enough,"  answered  the  hu- 
manitarian of  a  Jehu.  "  Five  hundred 
dollars  is  the  word,"  and  slamming  the 
hack  door,  he  was  on  the  point  of  leap- 
ing upon  the  box  and  driving  away. 
A  howl  of  anger  went  up  from  the 
throng  upon  the  walk,  but  save  for  the 
presence  of  a  certain  trio  of  young 
men  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the 
poor  invalid  would  never  have  been 
removed,  unless  carried  in  the  arms  of 
her  husband  and  friends. 

This  trio  was  made  up  of  three  Bo- 
hemians of  the  press,  who,  having  giv- 
en their  valuable  benediction  to  the 
office  in  which  they  had  been  employ- 
ed, as  it  crashed  to  the  ground,  had 
concluded  that  a  choice  quantity  of 
time  was  now  left  upon  their  hands  in 
which  to  achieve  bright  acts  of  benev- 
olence. Here  was  an  unmistakable 
opening.  A  dozen  quick  words  passed 
between  them,  and  in  a  twinkling  their 
coup  was  effected. 

Two  of  them  stepped  up  to  the  faith- 
less knight  of  the  whip,  and  ere  his 
astounded  senses  could  exactly  grasp 
the  situation,  they  had  lifted  him  over 
the  curbstone  into  the  middle  of  the 
street,  and  were  applying  a  judicious 
kicking  to  his  perturbed  physique 
The  other  burst  open  the  door  of  the 
hack,  motioned  to  the  husband  of  the 
sick  lady,  and  in  half  the  time  it  will 
take  to  read  this  had  seen  them  com- 
fortably stowed  in  the  carriage,  received 
their  instructions  as  to  their  destination, 
mounted  the  box,  seized  the  reins,  and 
starting  at  a  tearing  pace  around  the 
corner,  was  soon  out  of  sight. 

William  S.  Walker. 


THE  FLIGHT  FOR  LIFE. 


THE  FLIGHT  FOR  LIFE. 


HOW  can  pen  describe  the  scene 
—  the  wild  flight  of  half  a  city- 
full  of  people  from  their  burning 
homes  !  The  awful  experience  is  writ- 
ten with  a  pen  of  fire  in  the  memories 
of  those  who  participated  in  the  flame- 
urged  exodus,  but  the  aggregate  of  fear, 
of  bewilderment,  of  despair,  of  mental 
agony,  of  physical  pain,  can  never  be 
adequately  pictured  ;  nor  can  there  be 
properly  recorded  the  courage,  the  self- 
possession,  the  generosity,  the  mutual 
helpfulness  which  also  marked  the 
astonishing  scene. 

The  exodus  began  on  Sunday  even- 
ing in  a  little  cluster  of  humble  dwell- 
ings, and  increased  in  volume  and 
area  and  rapidity,  as  a  mountain 
stream  swells  into  a  resistless  river, 
until  it  had  swept  its  scores  of  thou- 
sands of  unhappy  victims  out  to  the 
great  sea  of  the  prairie  and  left  them 
to  perish  or  float  with  the  tide.  At 
first  the  few  poor  wretches  whose  hum- 
ble abodes  the  fire  was  actually  closing 
upon,  picked  up  their  effects  and  hur- 
ried them  out  to  friendly  doors  close  at 
hand,  while  the  indifferent  spectators 
looked  on,  strong  in  faith  of  the  power 
of  steam  and  iron  over  fire,  and 
thoughtless  of  any  danger  to  their  own 
homes.  But  as  an  hour  went  on,  the 
area  of  the  flames  had  increased  to  a 
fearful  degree,  and  hundreds  of  idle 
spectators  had  been  converted  into 
panic-stricken  householders,  frantically 
engaged  in  saving  their  own  effects  and 
transferring  them  to  the  places  of 
safety  which  still  abounded.  The  fire 
crossed  the  river  and  laid  its  devouring 
hand  upon  a  broad  margin  of  the 
South  Division,  while  its  pillar  of  flame 
and  smoke  led  the  way  far  ahead  and 
began  to  waken  the  entire  city  to  a 
sense  of  its  peril.  But  still  the  scene 
to  those  whose  homes  were  being  con- 
sumed had  only  the  ordinary  terrors 
of  a  city  fire,  for  there  were  still  thou- 
sands of  hands  ready  to  assist  in 


saving  the  occupants  and  their  effects, 
vehicles  were  easily  obtained,  and 
places  of  shelter  were  close  at  hand. 

But  the  fire  rushed  on  into  the  heart 
of  the  city,  and  then  the  full  horrors 
began.  Then  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  that  makes  men  blind 
and  deaf  to  the  needs  of  others,  took 
possession  of  the  frantic  multitude.  The 
whole  city  seemed  doomed,  and  men 
began  to  look  out  only  for  themselves. 
The  fiend  had  licked  up  the  vile  haunts 
along  the  river  and  on  to  Wells  and 
Griswold  Streets  and  similar  neighbor- 
hoods, and  sent  the  shameless  women 
and  half  drunken  men  flying  for  their 
lives,  no  one  caring  for  them.  It  had 
reached  the  solid  business  blocks,  and 
their  thousands  of  lodgers  were  added 
to  the  frantic  throng.  Then  it  knocked 
furiously  at  the  many  doors  in  the 
great  hotels,  and  the  terrified  guests 
—  strangers  in  a  strange  city  —  rushed 
about  in  the  mazes  of  the  halls,  drag- 
ging great  trunks  and  brandishing 
carpet-bags,  seeking  the  doors,  and 
disappearing  into  the  pandemonium 
without.  Meantime,  too,  it  had  swept 
over  to  the  great  residence  avenues 
and  served  its  writ  of  ejectment  on  the 
rich  men's  mansions,  and  reduced  their 
delicately  nurtured  occupants  to  the 
unaristocratic  level  of  the  now  shelter- 
less inmates  of  tenement  houses  —  a 
panic-stricken,  heterogeneous  mob  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  fleeing  from 
the  fire. 

Then,  when  the  consternation  be- 
came general,  the  demon  Selfishness, 
that  is  within  us  all,  asserted  his  su- 
premacy, and  the  scene  took  on  its 
worst  features.  The  inmates  of  threat- 
ened houses  with  wild  haste  conveyed 
such  valuables  as  they  could  into  the 
streets,  and  then  found  the  work  of 
salvation  scarcely  begun.  Assistance 
could  not  be  obtained  for  love  or  for 
money,  each  man  being  busy  with  his 
own  losses,  or  heedless  of  individual 


THE  FLIGHT  FOR  LIFE. 


needs  in  viewing  the  immensity  of  the 
ruin.  And  so  those  who  had  nothing 
to  lose  too  often  stood  by  and  saw  men 
and  women  and  children  distractedly 
trying  to  save  their  treasures,  and  gave 
no  helping  hand ;  or,  worse  yet,  drew 
near  only  to  pillage.  Vehicles  rose  to 
an  astonishing  value,  and  hackmen 
and  express-drivers  were  eagerly  offered 
fabulous  sums  to  convey  person  and 
property  to  safety.  Fifty  and  one  hun- 
dred dollars  a  load  was  a  common 
reward.  The  streets  were  filled  with 
an  indescribable  mass  of  fugitives  forc- 
ing their  way  through  the  chaos.  The 
dust  rolled  in  stifling  clouds  in  their 
faces,  often  making  it  impossible  to  see 
a  wagon's  length  ahead,  and  the  fall- 
ing fire-brands  burned  the  clothing  of 
the  fugitives  and  maddened  the  horses, 
so  that  danger  to  life  and  limb  was 
added  to  the  other  terrors.  As  the 
night  waned  —  a  night  that  needed  no 
candle,  lit  as  it  was  for  miles  around 
with  the  lurid  light  of  the  fire, —  the 
flames  kept  crowding  back,  up  the 
streets  and  avenues  of  the  South  Divi- 
sion, and  the  morning  found  them  still 
eating  their  way,  almost  against  the 
wind,  devouring  other  palaces  of  trade 
and  other  dwellings  with  their  luxurious 
furniture,  their  costly  works  of  art,  their 
countless  treasures,  hallowed  by  assor 
ciation,  and  possessing  values  that 
money  cannot  represent.  Lake  Park, 
fronting  Michigan  Avenue,  was  sought 
by  thousands  as  a  place  of  refuge,  and 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  goods  were 
deposited  there  only  to  be  devoured  by 
the  falling  fire,  while  their  owners  fled 
for  their  lives.  When  at  length  the 
southward  progress  of  the  conflagration 
had  been  stayed  at  the  irregular  line 
formed  by  Congress,  Harrison,  and 
Polk  Streets,  the  population  of  the 
South  Division  for  miles  above  were 
still  frantically  moving  their  effects 
southward,  or  had  gathered  together 
such  as  they  could  possibly  hope  to 
save,  and  stood  ready  to  fly  with  them 
when  the  destruction  could  not  be 
averted. 

But  the  scene  in  the  South  Division, 


where  the  fire  moved  comparatively 
slowly,  and,  over  a  large  area,  ate  its 
way  eastward  and  southward  against 
the  wind,  giving  gradual  warning  of 
its  approach,  was  almost  tame  com- 
pared with  the  spectacle  in  the  North 
Division.  There  the  inhabitants  were 
fleeing  with  the  wind  —  the  wind  in- 
creased to  a  tornado  by  the  terrible 
heat,  and  whirling  the  fire-brands  be- 
fore it  like  chaff.  If  the  fire  walked 
through  the  solid  blocks  of  brick  and 
stone  in  the  business  centre,  it  ran 
through  the  rows  of  frame  structures 
that  constituted  the  most  of  that  part 
of  the  town.  On  the  one  hand  was 
the  lake,  on  the  other  the  river  with  its 
scattered  bridges  quickly  choked  and 
blockaded  v/ith  fugitives  ;  and  so  most 
of  the  scores  of  thousands  had  noth- 
ing to  do  but  fly  right  before  the  des- 
truction that  pursued  them.  Daylight 
had  dawned,  but  the  sun  was  blotted 
out  by  the  dense  pall  of  smoke,  and 
hope  too  was  well  nigh  obscured.  Be- 
hind rolled  the  awful  billows  of  that 
sea  of  fire  whose  extent  they  could 
only  imagine,  and  here  and  there  be- 
fore them  a  flying  brand  had  lighted  a 
new  fire  that  might  ere  long  cut  off 
their  retreat.  "  To  the  lake !  "  was  the 
instinctive  cry  of  thousands,  and  soon 
the  beach  of  that  great  but  now  almost 
useless  reservoir  was  lined  with  the 
frantic  multitudes  and  such  effects  as 
they  could  save.  But  the  relentless 
demon  pursued  even  here,  showering 
upon  them  his  rain  of  fire,  and  many 
preserved  themselves  from  actual  burn- 
ing alive  only  by  covering  their  bodies 
with  blankets,  frequently  removed  to 
be  soaked  in  the  water.  Farther  up 
the  shore  many  sought  refuge  in  the 
old  burying -ground,  hiding  themselves 
in  the  vacant  graves  ;  and  many 
wretched  hearts,  weighed  down  with 
the  loss  of  every  earthly  possession  and 
fearing  that  they  had  looked  their  last 
upon  dear  ones  from  whom  the  frenzy 
of  the  flight  had  parted  them,  earnestly 
wished  for  the  peace  of  the  new  -  made 
grave  and  the  protection  of  the  grassy 
mound  which  fire  cannot  penetrate 


THE  FLIGHT  FOR  LIFE. 


and  beneath  which  the  trampling  hoofs 
of  flame  are  never  heard. 

Ere  long  Lincoln  Park,  the  resort  of 
gayety  and  fashion,  was  thronged  with 
the  fleeing  multitude ;  and  here  some 
security  was  found,  the  walls  of  green 
keeping  back  the  tide  of  fire,  though 
falling  brands  flashed  momentarily 
among  the  distracted  groups  and  set 
fire  to  treasures  painfully  brought 
hither,  after  repeated  removals,  only  to 
be  consumed.  Thousands  and  thou- 
sands more  stopped  not  to  trust  them- 
selves even  here,  but  pushed  on,  miles 
to  the  northward,  to  the  open  prairie 
beyond  the  city ;  and  there  night  over- 
took them,  homeless,  foodless,  illy- 
clad,  exhausted,  almost  broken  hearted. 
That  night  of  cold  and  rain,  by  the 
lake  shore,  among  the  tombs,  in  the 
dark  woods,  and  upon  the  desolate 
waste,  with  neither  fire  nor  food  nor 
shelter,  formed  a  fitting  close  of  the 
horrors  of  that  awful  day. 

If  amid  woes  like  these,  strong  men 
who  had  met  death  on  the  ocean  and 
the  battle-field,  the  young  and  health- 
ful who  still  had  life  to  hope  for,  the 
wealthy  who  still  had  an  abundance 
left  —  if  these  should  sink  in  despair, 
what  were  the  woes  of  tender  children, 
dragged  from  their  beds  to  meet  the 
flames,  separated  from  their  protectors, 
tortured  by  fears  that  their  little  minds 
could  not  comprehend ;  of  delicate 
women  —  many,  alas !  in  that  supreme 
moment  when  other  lives  are  wrapped 
up  in  their  own ;  of  the  sick,  the  bed- 
ridden, the  dying,  hurried  from  their 
chambers  into  the  wild  street  and 
borne  helplessly  hither  and  thither  with 
the  fever  breath  of  the  fire  upon  them ; 
of  the  aged  —  the  gray- haired  fathers, 
the  mothers  bowed  with  years  and 
cares,  for  whom  life,  even  with  the 
pleasantest  surroundings,  had  lost 
every  charm,  and  whose  only  wishecl- 
for  boon  was  a  quiet  death -bed,  sur- 
rounded by  those  for  whose  happiness 
they  had  spent  their  lives ;  —  how  can 
we  picture  the  appalling  aggregate  of 


these  bitter  sorrows  ?  Let  us  drop  the 
curtain  over  the  tear -compelling  pic- 
ture, thanking  God  that  somehow  men 
and  women  live  through  such  tremen- 
dous scenes  as  we  have  faintly  de- 
scribed, and  that  most  of  the  flying 
thousands,  escaped  from  the  furnace 
and  from  the  jaws  of  famine  and  des- 
titution, still  survive,  and  with  recov- 
ered courage  and  more  of  thankful- 
ness than  they  ever  knew  before,  are 
joining  hopefully  to  repair  their  ruined 
fortunes  and  rebuild  our  well-nigh 
ruined  city. 

But  some,  alas !  found  in  the  flames 
their  fiery  winding-sheet.  Sleeping  in 
isolated  buildings  or  in  lofty  stories  of 
great  blocks,  or  foolishly  risking  their 
lives  to  save  their  gold,  some  were 
stifled  by  the  smoke,  or  burned  alive  as 
they  fled,  or  fell  with  falling  floors  into 
seething  pits  of  flame.  The  number 
of  these  unhappy  victims  can  never  be 
known,  but  it  is  certainly  less  than  the 
appalling  magnitude  of  the  devastation 
would  render  probable.  About  one 
hundred  and  ten  bodies  have  thus  far 
been  found,  some  scarcely  scorched, 
and  some  charred  and  blackened  and 
roasted  into  horrible,  unrecognizable 
fragments  of  humanity.  As  the  ruins 
of  great  buildings  are  removed,  other 
remains  will  probably  be  found,  and 
many  others  were  doubtless  so  com- 
pletely consumed  as  to  leave  no  trace 
of  their  existence.  Not  a  few  of  the 
lost,  it  is  to  be  feared,  brought  their  fate 
upon  themselves  by  yielding  to  the 
stupefying  influences  of  drink.  One 
•  man  at  least  was  sacrificed  on  the  altar 
of  Mammon,  for  he  was  last  seen 
climbing  into  an  upper  window  of  his 
burning  house  to  rescue  his  secreted 
treasure  of  money,  and  in  company 
with  his  lucre  he  perished.  That  the 
reader  and  those  whom  he  loves  better 
than  himself  escaped  from  the  grasp 
of  this  fiery  death,  is  a  cause  for  grati- 
tude that  ought  to  make  all  his  ma- 
terial losses  seem  unworthy  of  a 
moment's  regret.  //.  R.  Hobart. 


THE  nVRNT- OUT  PEOPLE. 


43 


PART  III. — AFTER  THE  FIRE. 


THE  BURNT -OUT  PEOPLE,  AND  WHAT  WAS  DONE  FOR  THEM. 


EVEN  as,  during  those  hours  of  fu- 
rious burning,  Panic  and  Terror, 
twin  sisters  in  the  family  of  the  Furies, 
reigned  supreme  throughout  the  strick- 
en city,  so,  immediately  after  the  Great 
Fire,  Chaos  and  Despair,  the  brothers 
of  Death,  became  the  ruling  powers  of 
the  desolated  town.  The  flames  which 
had  consumed  the  stores,  offices,  shops, 
and  homes  of  thousands,  had  died  out ; 
but  the  dread  consequences  of  their 
ravages  remained.  All  was  confusion 
and  horrible  uncertainty.  The  streets, 
alleys,  houses,  and  doorways  of  the 
unburned  sections  of  the  city,  as  well  as 
the  parks  and  the  prairies  on  the  out- 
skirts, swarmed  with  sad,  terrified  mul- 
titudes. Where  to  go,  or  what  to  do, 
they  knew  not.  Some  who,  more  for- 
tunate than  the  many,  had  friends  re- 
siding in  the  saved  parts  of  the  town 
or  in  the  suburbs,  took  refuge  with  them, 
and  were  hospitably  welcomed  ;  others 
sought  shelter  in  sheds,  barns,  and 
churches ;  others,  having  saved  noth- 
ing but  a  few  dollars,  hastened  to  the 
railway  stations  and  left  for  other  cities. 
But  there  was  still  the  homeless,  food- 
less,  unsheltered,  destitute  multitude  — 
men,  women  and  children,  at  least  an 
hundred  thousand  of  them  —  who  knew 
not  whither  to  turn,  or  whence  to  ex- 
pect food,  help  or  comfort.  The  streets 
and  the  lake  and  river  shores  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  smoking  ruins,  were 
thronged  with  moving,  mingling  masses 
of  anxious  wanderers — some  with  ve- 
hicles laden  with  a  few  articles  of  res- 
cued household  goods,  but  many  on 
foot,  walking  about  with  uncertain  pur- 
pose. Here  and  there,  exhausted  and 
in  despair,  lay  or  sat  on  sidewalks,  lum- 
ber piles,  or  door -steps,  grim-visaged 
men,  weeping  women,  and  sleeping 
children,  as  homeless  as,  and  much 


more  haggard  than,  the  Gypsies  or  the 
Arabs.  And,  as  if  the  troubles  and 
anxieties  of  the  unfortunates  from  the 
loss  of  their  homes  and  property  by  the 
conflagration  were  not  enough,  evil- 
minded  and  desperate  men  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  virtual  state  of  anarchy 
existing,  to  plunder  such  helpless  ones 
as  chanced  to  take  refuge  in  out-of- 
the-way  places,  in  courts  and  alleys; 
and  the  city  was  filled  with  terrifying 
rumors  of  incendiarism  and  murder  and 
the  summary  execution  of  guilty  ones 
Night  came,  and  Darkness  reigned 
queen  of  the  hours,  for  the  gas  supply 
had  been  cut  off —  and  the  fears  and 
anxieties  of  the  homeless  wanderers 
were  almost  unendurable.  The  police 
force  was  disorganized,  demoralized, 
and  powerless.  There  was  no  Power 
to  control  the  confused  elements,  to 
protect  the  weak  against  the  strong,  or 
to  enforce  law,  order  or  justice.  That 
first  night  after  the  fire  —  that  fearful 
Monday  night  of  the  Qth  of  October  in 
Chicago  —  was  as  complete  a  picture  of 
social,  moral,  and  municipal  chaos  as 
the  wildest  imagination  can  conceive. 
No  water  supply,  no  light,  no  police 
protection,  no  security  anywhere  — 
drunken  men  reeling  recklessly  about 
and  uttering  coarse  blasphemy — thieves 
prowling  around  the  temporary  refuge 
of  the  unfortunates  —  alarms  of  fires 
and  wild  rumors  of  assaults  and  shoot- 
ings —  and,  more  terrible  still,  the  gen- 
eral fear  that  the  wind  would  change 
from  the  southwest  to  the  north,  north- 
west, or  east,  and  by  blowing  the  heat 
and  cinders  of  the  burning  coal -yards 
and  the  smoking  ruins  in  the  direction 
of  the  still  standing  parts  of  the  city, 
cause  another  great  conflagration,  and 
consume  what  remained  of  the  afflicted 
town :  —  the  reader  can  try  to  imagine 


44 


THE  BURNT-  OUT  PEOPLE. 


the  scene ;  and  when,  as  he  contem- 
plates the  terrible  picture,  a  shiver  of 
horror  runs  through  his  frame,  he  may 
in  a  measure  appreciate  the  sensations 
which  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  human  beings  experienced  all  through 
that  dreadful  night,  and  which  many  of 
them  experienced  for  even  a  whole 
week  of  days  and  nights. 

How  to  bring  order  out  of  this  chaotic 
condition  of  affairs,  was  the  problem  of 
the  hour.  The  Mayor  had  telegraphed 
to  other  cities  for  help,  and  issued  proc- 
lamations for  the  regulation  of  the  police 
and  the  relief  of  the  destitute.  The  first 
proclamation  was  as  follows  : 

PROCLAMATION. 

WHEREAS,  In  the  providence  of  God,  to  whose 
will  we  humbly  submit,  a  terrible  calamity  has  be- 
fallen our  city,  which  demands  of  us  our  best  efforts 
for  the  preservation  of  order  and  the  relief  of  suffer- 
ing: 

Be  it  known,  That  the  faith  and  credit  of  the  city 
of  Chicago  are  hereby  pledged  for  the  necessary  ex- 
penses for  the  relief  of  the  suffering. 

Public  order  will  be  preserved.  The  police  and 
special  police  now  being  appointed  will  be  responsi- 
ble for  the  maintenance  of  the  peace  and  the  pro- 
tection of  property. 

All  officers  and  men  of  the  Fire  Department  and 
Health  Department  will  act  as  special  policemen 
without  further  notice. 

The  Mayor  and  Comptroller  will  give  vouchers 
for  all  supplies  furnished  by  the  different  relief  com- 
mittees. 

The  headquarters  of  the  City  Government  will  be 
at  the  Congregational  Church,  corner  of  West  Wash- 
ington and  Ann  Streets. 

All  persons  are  warned  against  any  act  tending 
to  endanger  property.  Persons  caught  in  any  dep- 
redation will  be  immediately  arrested. 

With  the  help  of  God,  order  and  peace  and  pri- 
vate property  will  be  preserved. 

The  City  Government  and  the  committees  of 
citizens  pledge  themselves  to  the  community  to  pro- 
tect them,  and  prepare  the  way  for  a  restoration  of 
public  and  private  welfare. 

It  is  believed  the  fire  has  spent  its  force,  and  all 
will  soon  be  well.  R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor. 

October  9,  1871,  3  p.  m. 

This  document,  distributed  through- 
out the  city,  had  an  instantaneous  ef- 
fect in  bringing  the  police  and  those  of 
the  citizens  who  were  helpfully  disposed 
to  the  support  of  the  Mayor  and  his 
subordinates  in  authority.  His  call  for 
help  was  also  promptly  and  generously 
responded  to  by  the  officers  and  people 
of  other  towns  and  cities.  Car  -  loads  of 
cooked  food  arrived  by  every  train,  and 


many  wagon -loads  were  sent  in  from 
the  surrounding  country.  These  were 
distributed  among  the  needy.  The 
hungry  were  fed,  so  that  the  more  ter- 
rible fate  of  starvation  did  not  follow 
the  destruction  of  the  people's  homes. 
The  citizens  organized  a  system  of  pa- 
trols, which,  co-operating  with  the 
police  force,  guarded  what  remained  of 
the  city  from  the  torch  of  the  incendi- 
ary, and  protected  the  persons  and 
property  of  individuals  against  thieves 
and  robbers.  But  these  means  of  pro- 
tection and  security,  though  effective, 
were  not  deemed  sufficient.  It  was  felt, 
both  by  the  Mayor  and  the  citizens,  that 
in  the  midst  of  such  an  extraordinary 
emergency,  extraordinary  measures 
were  required.  Fortunately  the  head- 
quarters of  Lieutenant -General  Philip 
H.  Sheridan,  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  com- 
manding the  military  Division  of  the 
Missouri,  were  established  in  Chicago. 
That  distinguished  officer  and  his  offi- 
cial aids  had  been  active  and  energetic, 
both  during  and  after  the  conflagration, 
in  efforts  to  save  the  city  and  restore 
order.  By  their  valuable  services  they 
demonstrated  their  appreciation  of  the 
emergency,  and  drew  to  themselves  the 
gratitude  and  the  confidence  of  the  mu- 
nicipal authorities  and  the  people.  On 
Wednesday,  October  nth,  the  second 
day  after  the  fire,  a  conference  between 
the  Mayor,  the  Police  Commissioners, 
and  the  Lieutenant -General,  resulted 
in  an  arrangement  by  which  the  latter 
was  entrusted  with  the  superintendence 
of  the  city's  peace.  The  Mayor  pro- 
claimed this  fact  to  the  public  as  fol- 
lows : 

PROCLAMATION. 

The  preservation  of  the  good  order  and  peace  of 
the  city  is  hereby  entrusted  to  Lieutenant  -  General 
P.  H.Sheridan,  U.S.  Army. 

The  Police  will  act  in  conjunction  with  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General  in  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and 
quiet  of  the  city,  and  the  Superintendent  of  Police 
will  C6nsult  with  him  to  that  end. 

The  intent  hereof  is  to  preserve  the  peace  of  tin: 
city  without  interfering  with  the  functions  of  the  City 
Government. 

Given  under  my  hand,  this  nth  day  of  October., 
1871.  R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor. 

The  Lieutenant -General  entered 
upon  his  charge  on  the  following  day, 


THE  BURNT-  OUT  PEOPLE. 


45 


having  already  telegraphed  orders  for 
the  transfer  of  companies  of  his  troops 
from  Omaha  and  other  points  to  Chi- 
cago. These  arrived  on  Thursday 
night,  and,  together  with  the  police  and 
the  volunteer  military  companies  that 
had  reached  the  city  from  Springfield, 
Champaign,  Bloomington,  Rock  Island, 
and  Sterling,  were  placed  on  guard 
duty  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  as 
also  was  a  regiment  of  volunteer  patrol- 
men that  had  been  organized  by  Gen- 
eral Frank  T.  Sherman,  a  citizen,  who 
had  been  an  officer  of  the  Volunteer 
Army  of  the  United  States  during  the 
late  war  of  the  Rebellion.  Thus  was 
the  peace  and  security  of  the  city 
restored.  A  feeling  of  safety  was 
inspired  throughout  the  community. 
Lawlessness  and  disorder  were  prompt- 
ly suppressed,  and  those  guilty  of  crime 
or  attempted  violence  were  arrested 
and  locked  up.  This  system  of  mili- 
tary protection  was  continued  for  sev- 
eral days,  when,  all  serious  danger 
having  passed,  and  the  police  efficiency 
of  the  city  government  having  been 
re-established,  the  Lieutenant -General 
was  relieved  of  his  charge,  his  com- 
panies of  regulars  were  sent  away,  and 
the  volunteer  patrolmen  were  dismissed 
from  service. 

It   is   amazing   how   soon  and  how 
completely  the  indescribable  confusion 
and  chaos  consequent  upon  the  great 
conflagration  were  systematized  and  ad- 
justed into  order  and  regularity.     And 
yet  this  restoration  of  order  and  this 
submission  to  authority  were  but  the 
outward  aspect  of  the  situation.     All 
was   still   dread   uncertainty  —  painful 
anxiety.       Even     those    whose    faces 
'smiled  and  who  spoke  words  of  cheer 
and  encouragement    to    their   friends 
and  neighbors,  carried  in  their  breasts 
heavy,  anxious  hearts.  The  merchants, 
who  had  lost  their  stores ;   the  capital- 
ists, whose  buildings  had  been  reduced 
to  ashes ;  the  bankers,  whose  treasure- 
filled  vaults  were  covered  with  the  de- 
bris of  crumbled  and  fallen  walls ;  the 
lawyers  and  physicians,  whose  offices 
had  been  swept  completely  out  of  ex- 


istence ;  the  publishers,  editors,  and 
printers,  whose  types  and  presses  were 
destroyed ;  the  manufacturers,  whose 
machinery  and  tools  had  been  trans- 
formed into  molten  masses  of  rubbish  ; 
the  preachers,  whose  stately  churches 
were  now  ghastly  ruins ;  the  thousands 
of  clerks  and  mechanics,  whose  occu- 
pation was  utterly  gone  ;  the  hotel  pro- 
prietors and  their  guests,  who  were 
now  in  a  common  condition  of  home- 
lessness ;  the  managers  and  artists  of 
the  theatres  and  opera  houses,  whose 
temples  now  lay  flat  with  the  earth ; 
and  the  thousands  of  families,  rich 
and  poor,  whose  homes  had  been  thus 
quickly  devoured  by  the  insatiate  and 
unsparing  fire -fiend;  —  all — alas,  how 
many  there  were  of  them  !  —  were  in  a 
common  agony  of  suspense  and  des- 
pair ;  and  the  wonder  is  that,  under 
such  a  strain  of  nervous  excitement, 
mental  anxiety,  and  physical  exhaus- 
tion, continuing  for  days  and  nights, 
the  entire  population  did  not  become 
a  community  of  lunatics.  Million- 
aires had  become  beggars;  merchant 
princes  and  landed  lords  had  become 
bankrupts ;  none  knew  how  it  was 
with  them,  or  how  it  would  be ;  now 
they  were  thankful  if  they  could  find 
bread  to  eat,  water  to  drink,  or  where 
to  lay  their  fevered  heads.  Men  were 
like  ships  which  had  lost  their  anchors, 
—  adrift  in  mid -ocean,  without  chart, 
compass,  or  destination.  Painful  un- 
certainty was  reflected  from  every  face, 
while  utter  despair  was  so  plainly  ap- 
parent in  some  countenances  that  one 
could  read  their  sorrowing  thoughts  as 
on  a  printed  page. 

But  as  every  storm  is  succeeded  by 
a  calm,  and  as  every  dark  night  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  light  of  a  new  morning, 
so  were  the  hopelessness  and  despair 
of  those  first  few  days  immediately 
succeeding  the  Great  Fire  followed  by 
rays  of  cheer  and  promise,  dim  and 
fitful  at  first,  but  gradually  growing 
brighter  and  steadier  in  their  effulgence, 
until  the  entire  community  became,  as 
it  were,  illuminated  with  hope  and 
encouragement.  The  discovery  that 


46 


THE  BURNT-  OUT  PEOPLE. 


the  contents  of  the  bank  vaults  and  of 
many  of  the  iron  safes  in  business 
houses  were  uninjured,  removed  a 
heavy  burden  from  many  anxious 
minds ;  and  the  announcement  that 
at  least  some  of  the  great  insurance 
companies  that  had  Chicago  risks 
would  pay  their  full  losses,  and  that 
probably  the  rest  would  pay  a  goodly 
percentage,  also  bad  a  cheering  effect. 
The  repair  of  the  City  Water  Works 
and  the  restoration  of  the  water  supply, 
after  ten  days'  suspension,  was  another 
element  of  relief,  as  a  few  days  sub- 
sequently was  the  restoration  of  the 
gas  supply  to  the  unburned  portions 
of  the  afflicted  divisions  of  the  city. 
The  prompt  re  -  appearance  of  the  daily 
newspapers,  eloquent  with  cheering 
words  and  timely  counsels,  and  filled 
with  the  blessed  tidings  that  the  whole 
country  and  the  world  at  large  had 
been  moved,  as  if  by  magic,  to  a  sym- 
pathetic response  to  Chicago's  great 
disaster,  and  were  contributing  vast 
quantities  of  food  and  clothing,  and 
even  vaster  amounts  of  money,  for  the 
relief  of  the  destitute  thousands,  in- 
spired the  sad  and  stricken  people  with 
new  courage  and  hopefulness ;  and 
this  effect  was  hastened  not  a  little  by 
scores  of  sympathizing  visitors  and 
helpers  from  abroad,  and  by  a  flood 
of  letters  to  citizens  from  friends,  credit- 
ors, and  capitalists,  proffering  not  only- 
words  of  sympathy  but  acts  of  gener- 
ous assistance. 

In  the  mean  time,  many  who  at  first 
supposed  that  they  had  lost  everything, 
found  that  they  still  had  enough  left 
for  a  new  "  start  in  life,"  and  some 
were  even  so  fortunate  as  to  discover, 
after  examination  of  bank  vaults,  safes, 
and  insurance,  that  they  had  much 
left ;  these,  however,  were  rare  excep- 
tions to  the  rule.  A  large  number  of 
small  dealers,  manufacturers,  profes- 
sional men,  and  others,  had  lost  every- 
thing but  their  wits,  courage,  and 
energy,  which,  in  most  cases,  were 
their  original  capital  in  business,  and 
which,  it  is  hoped,  will  again  serve 
them  to  good  purpose  in  their  efforts  at 
tecuperation. 


The  re -opening  of  the  banks  of  the 
city  was  one  of  the  marked  events  of 
the  emergency.  In  ten  days  after  the 
fire,  all  the  banking  institutions,  hav- 
ing found  new  locations,  opened  their 
doors  for  business,  and  instead  of  an 
exhaustive  and  panicky  "  run  "  upon 
them  by  depositors,  general  surprise 
was  occasioned  by  the  fact  that  few 
depositors  wished  to  take  their  money 
out  of  the  banks,  while  many  offered 
funds  for  deposit.  There  was  no  ex- 
citement, no  panic,  no  "  run."  This 
remarkable  fact  was  especially  unex- 
pected as  regards  the  savings  banks, 
in  which  many  of  the  poorer  classes 
had  placed  their  savings,  which,  it  was 
anticipated,  they  would  now  be  anx- 
ious to  take  out,  both  because  of  their 
actual  necessities  and  for  the  reason 
that  they  were  fearful  of  the  ability  of 
the  banks  to  weather  the  sudden  storm. 
This  feature  of  the  city's  after -the -fire 
experience  was  most  gratifying  and 
stimulating.  It  was  felt  that  the  banks 
being  safe,  solvent,  and  able  to  resume 
their  legitimate  business,  confidence 
would  be  effectually  restored,  and  the 
trade  and  commerce  of  the  city  be 
speedily  re-established.  And  this  was 
the  effect.  The  grain  trade,  the  cattle 
trade,  and  the  lumber  trade,  in  their 
respective  marts,  were  in  full  and  suc- 
cessful progress  within  a  fortnight  after 
the  fire.  The  dry  goods,  grocery,  and 
other  merchants,  some  of  whom  con- 
structed temporary  wooden  buildings 
for  their  accommodation  on  the  lake 
front  or  in  the  burnt  district,  and  many 
others  of  whom  secured  new  quarters 
in  the  unburned  districts,  ordered  new 
stocks  of  goods,  and  in  less  than  three 
weeks  many  of  them  resumed  business. ' 
At  the  same  time  general  preparations 
were  making  for  rebuilding  ruined 
houses  and  blocks.  The  scene  at  the 
ruins  was  gradually  enlivened  by 
throngs  of  busy  workmen  engaged  in 
clearing  away  the  debris,  taking  out 
and  piling  up  bricks  and  building 
stones,  and  in  laying  the  foundations 
and  walls  of  new  buildings.  "  Never 
say  die1"  was  the  motto  of  all  —  in 
acts  as  well  as  in  words. 


THE  BURNT-  OUT  PEOPLE. 


47 


But  —  to  return  to  the  scenes  of  cha- 
otic confusion  immediately  after  the  con- 
flagration—  how  about  the  multitude 
of  families  who  had  lost  their  homes 
and  were  driven  out  to  the  parks, 
prairies,  and  temporary  places  of  re- 
fuge in  the  streets,  sheds,  and  houses 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  fire  ?  Who 
cared  for  them  ?  and  what  became  of 
them? 

There  were  Good  Samaritans  abroad 
in  those  sad,  distressful  days.  Agents 
and  officers  of  the  city  government  did 
what  they  could,  and  private  individ- 
uals —  humane  and  thoughtful  ladies 
and  gentlemen  of  our  city  and  of  other 
cities  —  volunteered  their  kindly  efforts 
to  relieve  and  care  for  the  houseless 
and  foodless  thousands.  Churches, 
school -houses,  and  other  public  and 
private  buildings,  were  suddenly  trans- 
formed into  barracks  and  hospitals, 
and  tents  were  pitched  in  various 
places.  Into  these  the  unfortunates 
were  invited  for  shelter,  and  there  their 
necessities  of  food  and  clothing  were 
supplied  as  best  they  could  be.  Many 
citizens  opened  the  doors  of  their  resi- 
dences to  friends  and  strangers  alike, 
and  provided  for  their  comfort.  Not  a 
few  of  the  refugees  had  either  gone  or 
been  transferred  from  the  parks  and 
prairies  to  the  suburban  villages  and 
farm-houses  a  few  miles  distant,  and 
there  found  hospitable  welcome.  Thus, 
gradually  but  surely,  was  the  great 
multitude  of  the  destitute  and  suffering 
provided  for.  It  was  an  herculean 
work  to  gather  them  all  in  and  render 
them  even  tolerably  comfortable,  for 
they  were  many  in  number,  of  all  ages 
and  conditions,  and  the  majority  of 
them,  as  the  result  of  the  terror  and 
exhaustion  of  their  desperate  flight 
from  the  threatening  flames,  were  at 
first  as  helpless  almost  as  infants,  and 
all  were  in  despair  and  nearly  heart- 
broken. How  could  it  have  been 
otherwise,  when  they  had  lost  their 
sacred  homes,  with  all  their  household 
treasures,  and  been  driven  forth  pell- 
mell  to  seek  refuge  they  knew  not 
where  ?  How  could  it  have  been  other- 


wise, when,  with  nothing  to  shelter 
them  but  the  broad  canopy  of  the  sky, 
and  nothing  left  to  inspire  them  with 
hope  or  cheer  but  their  faltering  trust 
in  that  Providence  which  they  felt,  in 
their  hours  of  despair,  had  completely 
deserted  them  and  left  them  to  a  des- 
perate fate  ?  How  could  it  have  been 
otherwise  than  crushing  and  heart- 
breaking to  those  who,  whether  yester- 
day rich  or  poor,  to-day  absolutely 
had  nothing  left  but  their  own  weary 
frames  and  the  smoke  and  dust -cov- 
ered clothes  on  their  backs  ?  The  spec- 
tacle of  an  hundred  thousand  human 
beings  thus  quickly  driven,  terror- 
stricken  and  destitute,  to  seek  refuge 
from  peril  and  death,  and  gathered  in 
trembling  and  disconsolate  groups  in 
fields  and  along  roadsides — men  des- 
pairing, women  agonizing,  and  little 
children  crying  for  something  to  eat 
and  to  drink  —  is  anew  one  in  this 
country ;  and  even  in  the  older  coun- 
tries of  earthquakes,  plagues,  or  other 
terrible  visitations,  just  such  an  one  as 
this  at  Chicago  after  the  Great  Fire, 
with  its  attendant  horrors,  has  probably 
never  been  witnessed. 

But  when  the  great  work  of  gather- 
ing in  and  caring  for  these  suffering 
people  was  once  fairly  begun,  as  it  was 
only  a  few  hours  after  the  conflagration 
had  burned  itself  out,  it  was  not  long 
before  in  the  hearts  of  even  these  hope 
and  courage  were  inspired ;  and  even 
they,  notwithstanding  their  terrible 
straits,  discovered  that,  though  they 
had  lost  much,  all  was  not  lost.  They 
discovered  —  and  it  did  their  hearts 
good  —  that  there  is  a  truer  brotherhood 
in  the  common  family  of  mankind 
than  they  had  ever  before  supposed  — 
a  brotherhood  which  only  needs  to  be 
made  to  feel  and  to  see  that  we  are 
all  poor,  helpless,  miserable  creatures 
when  the  Great  Father  of  us  all  with- 
draws His  protection  from  us  even  for 
a  moment,  to  impel  it  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Christian  rule,  that  as  we 
would  be  helped  when  in  need,  so  must 
we  help  others  when  they  need  our 
help.  They  discovered  that  charity 


48 


THE  BURNT-  OUT  PEOPLE. 


not  only  began  at  home,  but  came  in 
from  abroad  —  came  to  their  relief, 
kept  them  from  starvation,  and  helped 
to  lift  them  up  out  of  that  "  slough  of 
despond "  into  which  they  had  been 
plunged  as  if  by  the  strong  arm  of  the 
Lord. 

After  a  few  days  of  official  and  pri- 
vate effort  for  the  relief  of  the  home- 
less sufferers,  the  Mayor,  perceiving  the 
vast  extent  of  the  work  to  be  done  and 
the  necessity  that  it  should  be  done 
systematically,  judiciously,  and  thor- 
oughly, determined  to  turn  over  the 
entire  care  and  responsibility  of  the 
city  relief  to  the  Chicago  Relief  and 
Aid  Society  —  an  incorporated  organ- 
ization of  citizens,  which  had  previously 
had  charge  of  the  dispensation  of  chari- 
table aid  and  comfort  to  the  worthy  poor 
in  the  city.  The  officers  and  agents  of 
this  Society,  being  experienced  in  the 
work  of  caring  for  the  needy,  and  being 
gentlemen  and  ladies  of  acknowledged 
benevolence,  good  judgment,  and  in- 
tegrity, the  Mayor  acted  wisely  when 
he  transferred  this  great  and  compli- 
cated business  of  practical  relief  to  them. 
The  Society  at  once  entered  upon  the 
discharge  of  its  sacred  and  arduous  trust. 
It  receipted  for  and  took  into  custody 
the  vast  contributions  of  food,  cloth- 
Xing,  and  money  that  poured  in  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  Canada,  and 
Europe,  and  adopted  a  comprehensive 
system  of  distribution  of  aid  to  those 
needing  it.  At  the  same  time  the  citi- 
zens of  Cincinnati  established  and  sup- 
ported, and  by  their  own  agents  con- 
ducted, a  free  soup  -  house  for  the 
benefit  of  the  hungry,  at  which  hun- 
dreds were  daily  fed ;  and  it  is  the 
intention  to  continue  the  same  through 
the  winter.  The  Relief  Society  at  first 
fed  daily  about  80,000  people,  but  the 
number  soon  diminished  to  about 
60,000,  many  having  secured  remuner- 
ative employment,  and  others  having 
taken  advantage  of  the  generous 
liberality  of  the  railway  companies, 
who,  on  application  of  the  proper 
officers  of  the  Society,  granted  free 
passes  to  all  wishing  to  go  to  other 


parts  of  the  country.  The  Society  has 
also  issued  to  several  hundred  heads 
of  families  sufficient  quantities  of  lum- 
ber with  which  to  build  frame  houses 
for  themselves.  The  relief  work  is 
carried  out  with  a  degree  of  system- 
atic regularity,  care,  and  good  judg- 
ment, that  insures  help  for  all  worthy 
persons  who  are  sufferers  by  the  fire, 
and  at  the  same  time  rejects  the  appli- 
cations of  imposters  and  of  able- 
bodied  persons  who  can,  if  they  will, 
find  employment  and  earn  their  own 
living.  We  are  well  assured  that  the 
contributed  stores  and  funds  —  the  re- 
sults of  the  world's  generosity  —  are 
being  carefully  and  faithfully  applied, 
and  that  the  desires  of  the  donors  are 
being  conscientiously  carried  into  effect. 
The  spontaneous  and  general  re- 
sponse of  the  people  of  various  parts  of 
our  own  country  and  of  other  countries, 
when  the  startling  tidings  of  Chicago's 
great  calamity  were  received  by  them, 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and 
significant  features  of  the  event.  Chi- 
cago was  one  of  the  nerve  centres  of 
the  world's  social  and  commercial  sys- 
tem, and  the  blow  that  fell  upon  it 
thrilled  and  excited  the  whole  of  Christ- 
endom. The  electric  wires  that  flashed 
the  startling  news  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth,  brought  back,  as  if  in  a 
return  wave,  great  throbs  of  sympathy 
and  sorrow,  which  told  us  in  eloquent 
language  that  wherever  civilized  man 
dwelt,  our  overwhelming  disaster  was 
the  subject  of  grief,  and  our  people  the 
objects  of  pity  and  benevolent  regard. 
First  and  foremost  of  the  towns  and 
cities  that  responded  with  sympathetic 
words  and  tears  and  with  generous  offer- 
ings of  help  and  relief  were  those  which 
had  been  Chicago's  most  jealous  rivals 
in  Western  commercial  ambition  — 
Milwaukee,  St.  Louis,  and  Cincinnati. 
Each  of  those  cities  was  shocked  as  if 
by  an  earthquake  by  the  news  of  Chi- 
cago's sudden  and  terrible  calamity, 
and  instantly  hastened  to  her  assist- 
ance. Milwaukee  and  St.  Louis  sent 
fire  engines  and  car-loads  of  provisions 
by  the  same  trains,  reaching  us  in  "  the 


THE  BURNT-  OUT  PEOPLE. 


49 


nick  of  time."  Cincinnati  sent  provis- 
ions, clothing,  and  money,  without  stint 
or  measure,  and  noble  "angels  of  mer- 
cy "  were  sent  with  them  to  administer 
comfort  and  relief  in  our  hour  of  an- 
guish and  despair.  How  suddenly 
every  feeling  of  rivalry  or  unfriendli- 
ness between  these  cities  vanished,  and 
was  followed  by  the  sweet  and  gentle 
spirit  of  charity  !  How  the  bruised  and 
heavy  heart  of  stricken  Chicago  throb- 
bed out  its  thankfulness  and  its  deep 
gratitude  to  its  humane  neighbors ! 
How  quickly  rivals  in  commerce  be- 
came rivals  in  magnanimity  ;  and  how, 
in  a  feeling  of  common  sorrow,  enemies 
became  friends,  and  bitterness  was 
changed  into  loving  kindness ! 

Nor  was  the  "  humanity  of  man  " 
confined  to  those  three  cities.  The 
small  towns  and  the  country  people 
adjacent  to  Chicago  were  first  heard 
from  —  they  did  what  they  could  for 
us,  for  they  were  of  us ;  and  every 
town  and  city  in  the  West  and  in  the 
East,  some  of  those  in  the  South,  a 
number  of  those  in  the  New  Dominion 
of  Canada,  even  many  of  those  in 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  and 
Austria,  and  the  city  of  Havana  in 
Cuba,  speedily  and  generously  sent  us 
welcomed  sympathy  in  sweet  words 
and  needed  help  in  substantial  gifts. 
Municipal  governments  voted  money 

—  some   a  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
others  less,  but  many  very  liberal  sums 

—  for  the  "  Chicago  relief  fund."     The 
cities  of  San  Francisco,  Memphis,  In- 
dianapolis, Louisville,  Cleveland,  Pitts- 
burg,    Buffalo,    Rochester,     Syracuse, 
Utica,  Albany,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,    Washington,     Providence, 
Boston,  Portland,  Montreal,  Hamilton, 
London,  and   others  —  and    so   many 
others  that  we  have   not  room  to  give 
the  entire  list  —  offered  to  us  handsful 
of  money  and  food,  and  were  eager  to 
bring  more  if  we    should  need  more. 
Up  to  the  last  day  of  November,  the 
cash  contributions  received  by  the  Chi- 
cago Relief  and  Aid  Society,  amounted 
to  about  $3,000,000. 

Smarting   under  the  crushing  blow 
4 


of  our  affliction,  we  first  groaned  and 
wept  with  very  pain ;  but  when  the 
sympathies  and  treasures  of  other  cities 
and  of  the  country  and  the  world  at 
large  came  pouring,  like  the  oil  of  heal- 
ing, in  upon  us,  our  tears  of  sorrow  were 
changed  to  tears  of  gratitude  and  joy, 
and  with  reddened  eyes  looking  heav- 
enward from  amid  our  ruined  metrop- 
olis, we  thanked  God  for  the  nobility 
of  human  nature.  Our  sorrow  was  a 
new  one  and  a  great  one,  but  its  bur- 
den was  greatly  alleviated  and  its  pangs 
mitigated  by  the  new  revelation  that  it 
caused  to  break  in  upon  our  tearful  vis- 
ion—  that  grandest  revelation  of  the 
humanity  of  man  that  has  ever  bright- 
ened the  history  of  our  race  —  a  reve- 
lation at  once  so  surprising  and  so  glo- 
rious that  it  has  filled  us  with  a  stronger 
faith  that  there  is  much  that  is  divine 
in  the  nature  of  mankind.  It  has  been 
a  general  supposition  that  man  is  nat- 
urally and  essentially  a  selfish  being — 
that,  for  the  sake  of  self,  he  will  sacri- 
fice friends,  principles,  and  honor, — 
and  that  genuine  charity  is  a  rare 
treasure  that  can  be  found  only  by- 
digging  down  deep  into  the  human 
soul.  But  the  blow  which  struck  down 
Chicago  also  struck  that  chord  of  hu- 
manity which  vibrates  with  the  sympa- 
thetic thrill  of  a  common  brotherhood 
—  the  chord  which  unites  us  all,  and 
makes  the  great  family  of  man  a  grand 
unit  in  impulse,  sympathy  and  a  sense 
of  dependence.  Men  who  had  labored 
for,  and  garnered  and  watched  with  a 
miserly  vigilance,  the  accumulations  of  a 
life  -  time,  suddenly  tore  loose  from  the 
cold,  clutching  grip  of  avarice,  and  emp- 
tied their  treasured  thousands  into  the 
hands  of  Bounty,  for  Chicago's  relief  in 
her  hour  of  sore  distress.  Opulent  and 
grasping  corporations,  to  which  gene- 
ral sentiment  had  denied  the  possession 
of  souls,  astonished  the  world  by  their 
munificence  in  gifts  and  favors  to  the 
afflicted  city.  Competing  and  rival 
towns  and  cities  no  sooner  heard  of 
our  overwhelming  disaster  than  they 
poured  out  their  wealth  for  our  relief. 
England,  forgetting  the  old-time  prej- 


AMONG  THE  RUINS. 


udices  against  American  ways,  institu- 
tions and  pretensions,  fairly  turned  her 
"  horn  of  plenty  "  upside  down  over 
the  lap  of  ruined  and  suffering  Chicago. 
Germany,  flushed  with  her  freshly  - 
earned  triumphs  in  the  land  of  the 
vanquished  Gaul,  for  the  moment  lost 
sight  of  her  occasion  for  rejoicing  in 
her  sympathy  with  the  grievous  calam- 
ity that  had  come  upon  this  youngest 
of  the  great  cities  of  the  Republic  across 
the  sea.  Austria,  debt -burdened  and 
tyrant -tied,  was  moved  to  make  offer- 
ings for  our  help ;  and  even  France, 
paralyzed  and  impoverished  after  her 
stunning  defeat  at  the  hand  of  the  Teu- 
ton, drew  forth  a  ready  hand  from  her 
almost  empty  pocket,  and  sent  to  us 
what  she  could  hardly  spare.  The 
close-fisted  Yankees  of  New  England, 
the  slow -plodding  capitalists  of  Cana- 
da, the  lavish  spendthrifts  of  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  the  "peculiar  people"  of 
Utah  —  all  contributed  with  liberal 
hands.  And  what  was  least  expected 
of  all,  cities  in  the  lately  rebellious 
South,  which  owed  Chicago  no  friend- 
ship, were  among  the  first  and  most 
generous  in  their  benevolence  in  a  time 
when  "  friends  in  need  were  friends  in- 
deed." Surely  it  is  true,  as  Shakespeare 
—  human  nature's  faithful  interpreter  — 
makes  Ulysses  say,  that 

"  One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin." 

And  we  verily  believe  that  the  world 


has  been  made  better  by  Chicago's 
fiery  ordeal.  The  hearts  of  men  had 
long  been  growing  hard  and  cold,  and 
needed  just  such  a  shock  to  soften  and 
warm  them  to  generous  impulses. 
Whatever  brings  soberness  to  the 
wild  and  reckless  spirit;  whatever 
tames  the  rash  and  dashing  steeds  of 
worldly  ambition  ;  whatever  draws  out 
our  thoughts  and  loves  from  within 
ourselves  and  away  from  the  follies  of 
the  world,  and  opens  up  and  enlarges 
our  sympathies  and  regard  for  our 
brother  man,  — has  the  effect  to  make 
better  men  and  women  of  us.  Heavy 
and  grievous  as  this  blow  has  been  to 
us,  it  has  not  been  without  its  benefits, 
both  to  ourselves  as  the  suffering  vic- 
tims and  to  the  rest  of  mankind  as  our 
sympathizers.  It  has  made  us  less 
presuming,  less  proud,  less  boastful, 
and  taught  us  humility  and  the  uncer- 
tainty of  all  earthly  things  ;  and  it  has 
broken  the  iron  shell  of  the  world's  av- 
arice, stimulated  and  developed  its  hu- 
mane impulses,  and  enriched  it  by  the 
discovery  of  treasures  of  benevolence 
and  "  sweet  charity  "  before  hidden  and 
unknown.  Fire  destroys,  but  it  also 
purifies.  Affliction  and  sorrow  are  hard 
to  bear,  but  they  also  develop  the  real 
heroism  of  the  human  soul.  "  Man 
proposes,  but  God  disposes,"  is  the 
grand  lesson  of  the  history  of  the  ages. 
Andrew  Shuman. 


AMONG   THE   RUINS. 


GRAND  as  was  the  tumult  of  the 
fire,  with  its  motion,  its  omnipo- 
tent energy,  its  unsurpassed  colorings, 
and  its  human  agony,  it  scarcely  ex- 
celled in  this  direction  the  contrasts 
that  were  developed  in  the  ruins. 
There,  was  no  life,  color,  motion,  or 
strength.  As  that  seemed  the  embodi- 
ment of  vast,  resistless  force,  this 
appeared  the  incarnation  of  pitiable 
weakness.  The  one  swelled,  roared, 


surged,  towered  ;  the  other  was  silent, 
sombre,  dull,  inanimate. 

The  four  or  five  days  which  immedi- 
ately succeeded  the  Dies  Irce  —  the 
Black  Monday  of  Chicago's  life  —  were 
the  period  in  which  th^  ruins  presented 
their  most  effective  character.  During 
that  time,  stupefaction  prevailed  among 
the  people  ;  and  men  neither  attempted 
to  measure  nor  repair  the  calamity. 
Walls  lay  as  they  fell ;  the  debris  were 


AMONG  7WE  RUINS. 


untouched  ;  yawning  walls,  broken  col- 
umns, shattered  chimneys,  and  slender, 
smoke  -  stained  arches  extended  every- 
where in  a  wilderness  of  undisturbed 
profusion. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  one  could 
best  appreciate  the  character  of  the 
catastrophe.  Standing  upon  Madison 
Street  bridge,  one  had  a  coup  d'cetl 
beneath  which  desolation  reigned  su- 
preme. The  air  was  curtained  with 
an  apathetic  smoke,  through  which 
grotesque  and  distorted  remnants  were 
revealed,  and  whose  prevailing  hues 
were  the  pallor,  the  ashiness,  the  pres- 
ence of  all  the  tints  characteristic  of 
death.  Even  the  strong  sunlight  gave 
no  brightness  to  the  smoking  area, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  seemed  to  inten- 
sify its  ashen  complexion,  and  to  make 
more  conspicuous  its  leaden  character- 
istics. Gray,  the  white  of  cheeks 
emaciated  with  disease,  funereal  black, 
and  an  uncleanly,  sickly  red  ;  —  these 
were  the  tints  that  made  up  the  picture, 
and  which  were  all  in  harmony  with 
its  sadness  and  its  depression. 

Not  one  look,  not  a  score  of  exam- 
inations, would  enable  one  to  compre- 
hend what  extended  before  him.  The 
sadness,  the  extent,  the  desolation, 
grew  with  each  inspection.  Each 
study  brought  out  new  features,  that 
never  lightened  but  which  always  in- 
tensified those  already  discovered.  All 
the  characteristics  of  chaos  and  des- 
truction seemed  present,  and  none 
failed  to  present  themselves  as  a 
reward  for  patient  and  extended  study. 

One  remarkable  feature  was  that 
found  in  the  complete  obliteration  of 
all  recognizable  characteristics  of  places 
and  localities.  There  seemed  a  reso- 
lute purpose  on  the  part  of  the  spirit 
of  destruction  to  sweep  from  existence 
even  the  suggestions  of  the  proud  piles 
of  marble.  Whole  blocks  were  hurled 
to  the  ground  so  evenly  that  street, 
alley,  or  this  or  that  land -mark  had 
disappeared  as  completely  as  did  Her- 
culaneum  under  the  ashes  and  lava  of 
Vesuvius  "  Somewhere  yonder  was 
my  building,"  was  a  frequent  remark  ; 


and  it  was  only  when  the  work  of  clear- 
ing away  in  recognizable  localities  had 
been  commenced,  that  many  a  citizen 
was  able  to  establish  points  of  observa- 
tion whereby  the  location  of  his  tum- 
bled walls  could  be  discovered. 

In  squares  which  had  been  occupied 
by  wooden  structures,  the  work  of  de- 
struction was  as  complete  as  if  the 
whole  had  been  caught  up  and  borne 
away.  Here,  absolute  annihilation 
was  the  rule.  Block  after  block  would 
reveal  no  evidences  of  there  having 
existed  civilization,  save  the  excava- 
tions of  the  cellars  and  a  thin  layer 
of  ashes.  Nothing  unconsumed  re- 
mained. The  very  air  seemed  to  have 
been  on  fire ;  and,  under  the  enormous 
heat,  wood  was  reduced  to  an  impalpa- 
ble dust,  and  all  metals  shrank  away 
in  liquid  rivulets  and  disappeared. 

A  stranger,  ignorant  of  the  occur- 
rence of  the  fire,  might  have  travelled 
over  acres  without  scarcely  meeting  a 
single  thing  to  even  suggest  that  the 
areas  through  which  he  was  passing 
had  ever  been  inhabited  ;  in  many  in- 
stances, he  would  hardly  suspect  even 
that  there  had  been  a  fire,  so  complete 
was  the  work  of  annihilation.  So  con- 
suming was  the  fire  that,  in  many 
cases,  it  not  only  obliterated  every- 
thing constructed  by  man,  but  even 
licked  clean  the  usual  traces  of  its 
progress. 

The  great  contrasting  effects  of  the 
conflagration  did  not  occur  between 
the  fire  and  the  ruins — although  there 
was,  as  has  been  noticed,  the  differ- 
ence between  the  potent,  resistless 
energy  of  the  one,  and  the  quiescent 
weakness  of  the  other  —  but  between 
the  city  as  it  was  on  Sunday,  and  the 
same  as  it  appeared  twenty -four  hours 
later.  Strong  as  was  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  vividness  of  the  fire,  with 
its  crimson  banners  blazing  athwart 
the  whole  sky,  and  the  ashen  desola- 
tion, the  ineffable  sadness  and  quietude 
of  the  ruins,  there  was  a  more  notice- 
able contrast  between  the  white  and 
shapely  marble  acres  of  one  day,  and 
the  dull,  prostrate,  sullen  remnants  of 


AMONG  THE  RUINS. 


the  day  which  followed.  This  was  a 
contrast  whose  effects  and  character- 
istics men  had  leisure  to  observe ;  but 
that  which  the  fire  afforded  them  was 
so  hurried  in  birth,  so  awful  in  its  pro- 
gress, and  so  stupefying  and  prostrat- 
ing in  its  existence,  that  no  man  had 
leisure  or  presence  of  mind  or  inclina- 
tion to  make  it  a  study. 

But  of  the  nature  of  the  stately  piles 
which  reared  themselves  so  superbly 
skyward  on  Sunday,  and  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  disordered  and  smoking 
mass  which  represented  them  on  Mon- 
day, men  have  had  ample  time  for  the 
study.  To  the  citizen,  the  fire  is  no 
more  than  an  incident,  a  terrific  light- 
ning flash,  which  had  scarcely  time  to 
impress  itself  on  the  memory.  The 
desolation,  then,  does  not  recall  the 
sublime  occurrence  of  a  world  aflame, 
of  stars  foundered  in  a  crimson  ocean, 
of  a  vast  population,  frenzied,  despair- 
ing, flying  ;  but  brings  back  only  our 
beautiful  city  as  it  was,  and  invites  an 
almost  hopeless  interrogation  of  the 
future. 

There  was  one  single  feature  of  the 
ruins  that  almost  approached  the  char- 
acter of  an  amelioration.  This  one 
feature  came  into  existence  during  the 
moonlight  nights  that  soon  after  suc- 
ceeded the  calamity.  Even  then  there 
was  nothing  of  a  nature  to  lessen  the 
severity  of  the  affliction  ;  but  there  was 
something  to  soften  it,  somewhat  as 
a  wreath  of  flowers  takes  something 
from  the  horror  which  is  born  of  the 
pallor  and  the  rigid  immobility  that  pos- 
sess the  face  of  the  dead. 

Nature  seemed  desirous  of  affording 
such  relief  as  lay  in  her  power ;  and 
thus  it  happened  that,  during  the  day, 
the  genial  sun,  his  rays  inspired  with 
warmth  and  kindness,  flooded  the  ruins 
in  golden  profusion,  while  at  night  the 
pitying  moon  silvered  over  the  harsher 
features  of  the  desolation,  and  gave 
them  a  tinging  of  softness  and  quiet 
repose  that  at  least  rendered  their  ex- 
amination less  a  labor  of  sad  depression. 
At  such  times,  a  journey  through  the 
ruins,  in  place  of  giving  birth  to  sinis- 


ter suggestions,  awoke  the  artistic  na- 
ture of  the  observer,  so  that  what  before 
seemed  a  monotonous  and  afflicting 
calamity,  became  a  softened  and  pleas- 
ing study.  One  could  forget  the  dollars 
burned,  the  families  homeless,  the  ma- 
terial consequences  of  the  fire,  and 
entertain  himself  with  the  artistic  beau- 
ties of  the  scene. 

True  it  is  that  in  these  inspections 
there  was  nothing  exhilarating.  It  was 
somewhat  of  the  nature  of  a  stroll 
through  the  well  -  trimmed  walks,  hand- 
some monuments,  and  green  surround- 
ings of  a  cemetery.  One  admired  its 
beauty,  while  there  weighed  upon  him 
the  conviction  that  he  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  dread  influence  that  repressed 
everything  that  approached  hilarity  or 
even  exaltation. 

And  thus  men  and  women  wandered 
through  the  burnt  district  by  moonlight, 
fully  appreciative  of  the  spirit  of  the 
calamitous  influence,  and  soberly  and 
silently  pervaded  with  the  artistic  beau- 
ty of  the  picture. 

Nothing  could  be  more  novel  and 
finer  than  these  moonlight  effects.  Ev- 
erywhere were  contrasts  shorn  of 
harshness,  and  pervaded  with  harmony 
and  interests.  Banks  of  deep  shadows 
lay  behind  walls,  and  met  beyond,  and 
united  everywhere  with  masses  of  sil- 
very light.  The  moon  seemed  to  touch 
all  with  a  gentle,  pitying  hand.  Infi- 
nite softness  and  gentleness  pervaded 
the  silvery  pall,  as  if  nature  understood 
that  it  rested  upon  something  whose 
snfferings  entitled  it  to  a  forbearing 
consideration. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  effects 
developed  at  night  was  connected  with 
the  burning  of  the  small  coal  piles  in 
the  basements  or  yards  of  what  had 
once  been  dwellings.  For  many  days 
after  the  fire,  these  continued  burning, 
but  not  with  a  hasty,  devouring  flame. 
From  the  rounded  surface  of  each  of 
these  small  piles,  there  rose  spires  of 
flame  a  few  inches  in  height  and  of  a 
pale  blue  color.  These  agitated  by  the 
breeze,  bent  and  swayed,  and  seemed 
like  buds  of  violet  waving  in  the  wind. 


RECONSTR  ACTION. 


53 


Everywhere  these  fairy -like  flower - 
buds  of  flame  met  the  view,  and  added 
to  the  scene  a  wierd  and  indescribable 
beauty.  In  the  chastened  demi-jour 
character  of  the  light,  the  black  surfaces 
of  these  flame  flower  beds  came  dis- 
tinctly into  view,  and  afforded  an  ex- 
quisite contrast  with  the  lurid,  lanceo- 
late spires  which  waved  tremulously 
above  them,  and  which,  although  add- 
ing no  light  to  the  landscape,  came  into 
brilliant  distinctness,  and  merged  har- 
moniously with  the  brighter  light  of  the 
moon. 

Another  noticeable  moonlight  feature 
was  the  thousands  of  blackened  trees 
that  were  met  at  almost  every  step. 
All  of  these  had  their  branches  point- 
ing rigidly  to  the  northeast,  the  direc- 
tion in  which  went  the  gale  that  bore 
the  torrents  of  fire  over  the  city.  Black, 
rigid,  lifeless,  bent,  and  pointing  to- 
wards the  quarter  where  went  the  storm, 
they  seem  murdered  victims  whose  last 
effort  before  dissolution  was  to  arrange 


themselves  so  as  to  fix  a  thousand  mo- 
tionless and  accusing  arms  to  point 
out  the  hiding  place  of  their  destroyer. 
Already  have  the  Ruins  of  Chicago 
become  almost  a  thing  of  remembrance. 
Brick  walls  have  risen  like  an  exhala- 
tion from  among  their  disorder,  and 
whence  the  smoke  struggled  up  sullenly 
and  where  the  moon  flung  a  pitying 
veil,  there  now  are  thronged  the  tem- 
porary structures  which  are  the  over- 
ture to  Chicago's  architectural  resurrec- 
tion. The  grand,  far-reaching  ruins 
are  narrowed  into  scars,  and,  in  a  little 
time,  under  the  healthful  operations  of 
the  circulation  of  Chicago  blood,  even 
these  will  be  obliterated.  Gone  already 
is  the  first  hideousness  of  the  destruc- 
tion ;  and  scarcely  before  the  world 
shall  have  recovered  from  the  moral 
shock  of  the  event,  the  Ruins  of  Chi- 
cago will  exist  only  in  remembrance,  or 
upon  the  canvas  of  the  artist. 

F.  B.  Wilkie. 


RECONSTRUCTION. 


FROM  that  windy  night  when  the 
first  prophetic  flame  shot  into  the 
clouds  and  leaned  like  a  crimson  Pisa 
to  the  northeast,  till  the  last  building 
fell  and  the  destroyer  had  crept  sullenly 
away  into  coal  piles  and  garbage  heaps, 
there  was  a  helpless  acquiescence  on 
the  part  of  spectators  that  was  pitiful. 
But  when  the  raging  fiend  had  died  of 
plethora,  the  old  energy  again  came 
forth.  Rigidity  returned  to  the  weak- 
ened spine  and  vigor  to  the  flaccid 
hand,  and  the  eye  of  enterprise  was  light- 
ed up  once  more  with  its  undying  flame. 
When  the  fire  was  baffled,  citizens  who 
had  cowered  and  fled  before  it  in  awe 
arose  bravely  and  said,  "  We  can  con- 
quer everything  else." 

On  every  one  of  the  hundred  squares 
that  had  been  laid  in  ashes  on  the 
South  Side,  men  straightway  attacked 
the  smoking  embers,  extinguishing  the 


lingering  flames  in  order  to  build  anew. 
Pieces  of  iron,  writhing  in  a  thousand 
fantastic  forms,  and  scarcely  revealing 
under  their  strange  disguises  the  origi- 
nal gas  and  water  pipes,  safes,  scales, 
chandeliers,  stoves,  mantels  and  col- 
umns they  had  been,  were  pulled  out 
while  still  warm,  and  carried  away  for 
foundry  purposes.  Ashes  and  broken 
bricks  were  carted  to  the  lake,  and 
dumped,  to  make  more  land  for  an 
already  opulent  railroad  corporation. 
Walls  were  pulled  down,  and  an  army 
of  men  were  employed  to  completely 
clear  away  the  debris  and  clean  and 
square  with  a  trowel  such  bricks  as 
could  be  made  available  for  rebuilding. 
The  first  merchants  who  returned  to 
the  burnt  district  were,  of  course,  the 
newsboys,  peripatetic  of  habit  and  in- 
sinuating of  demeanor.  After  the  news- 
paper nomads,  came  an  apple -woman 


54 


KECONSTR  UCTION. 


on  Tuesday  morning,  who,  with  an  air 
of  mingled  audacity  and  timidity,  sta- 
tioned her  hand -cart  at  the  corner  of 
State  and  Randolph  Streets,  half  a 
mile  within  the  ashen  circle.  She  was 
the  pioneer  of  all  the  trade  of  the  future. 
On  Tuesday  morning  the  last  house 
burnt,  away  at  the  north.  By  Tuesday 
afternoon,  a  load  of  new  lumber  had 
crept  into  the  South  Division.  On 
Wednesday  morning,  that  lumber  was 
thrown  into  the  form  of  a  box  to  cover 
a  merchant's  wares.  This  was  the  in- 
auguration of  Slabtown.  Thencefor- 
ward there  were  innumerable  cartings  ; 
heaps  of  charred  rubbish  were  briskly 
exchanged  for  heaps  of  fresh  pine ; 
carpenters  multiplied  like  locusts ;  the 
air  assumed  a  resinous  odor,  and  the 
clatter  of  hammers  echoed  as  if  the 
ruins  were  being  knocked  down  to  relic- 
hunters  by  an  enraged  auctioneer. 

By  far  the  most  grotesque  phase  of 
the  calamity  is  the  manner  in  which 
the  vast  business  of  the  city,  suddenly 
driven  into  the  street,  instantly  accom- 
modated itself  to  new  locations  and 
conditions.  When  the  crimson  canopy 
of  Monday  night  merged  into  the  dawn 
of  Tuesday  morning,  it  was  found  that, 
besides  personal  property,  some  thous- 
ands of  loads  of  merchandise  had  been 
saved — stowed  away  in  tunnels,  buried 
in  back  alleys,  piled  up  all  along  the 
lake  shore,  strewn  in  front  yards 
through  the  Avenues,  run  out  of  the 
city  in  box  cars,  and  even,  in  some  in- 
stances, freighted  upon  the  decks  of 
schooners  off  the  harbor.  And,  far 
more  than  this,  five  thousand  merchants 
had  saved  their  Good  Name  —  that  im- 
perishable entity,  that "  incorporeal  her- 
editament," which  resists  burglars  and 
all  the  assaults  of  the  elements,  and 
carries  an  invisible  treasury  for  him 
who  wears  its  badge.  Two  hundred 
thousand  people  in  the  city,  and  ten 
times  that  number  out  of  the  city,  were 
in  immediate  need  of  goods  and  com- 
pelled to  buy. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  terri- 
ble descent  of  the  barbarians  upon  our 
aristocratic  thorough  fares  began.  Down 


Wabash  and  Michigan  Avenues,  hith- 
erto sacred  to  the  "  first  families," 
rushed  the  Visigoths  of  trade  in  a  wild, 
irresistible  horde,  with  speculation  in 
their  eyes.  West  Washington  Street 

—  prim  and  stately  West  Washington 

—  was  the  next  victim  ;  then  followed 
West  Lake,  Randolph,  Madison,  Mon- 
roe.    Block  after  block  was  swallowed 
up  by  the  invaders  —  Trade  walked  into 
the  houses  with  a  yard  -  stick  for  its  stil- 
letto,  and  domestic  life  took  up  its  pack 
and  retreated. 

Many  a  man  who  has  done  a  busi- 
ness of  half  a  million  a  year,  has  in- 
vaded his  own  front  parlor  on  the 
Avenue ;  has  whisked  the  piano,  the 
gorgeous  sofas,  the  medallion  carpet 
and  the  clock  of  ortnolu  into  the  ca- 
pacious upper  stories,  and  has  sent  his 
family  to  keep  them  company ;  while 
show-cases  have  been  arrayed  through 
drawing  and  dining  rooms,  and  clerks 
now  serve  customers  with  hats,  furs, 
shoes,  or  jewelry,  where  they  formerly 
spooned  water  ices  at  an  evening  party. 
The  burnt  district  looks  as  if  Cheyenne 
had  waltzed  across  the  alkaline  prairies 
and  bestridden  our  poor  disreputable 
river ;  but  the  city  for  a  mile  west  and 
south  of  the  fire  district  looks  like  Van- 
ity Fair.  The  carelessness,  even  reck- 
lessness, with  which  Commerce  has 
dropped  down  into  dwelling-houses 
hap  -  hazard,  is  grotesque  and  whimsical 
to  the  last  degree.  Three  or  four  kinds 
of  business,  moreover,  are  crowded 
under  ever)7  roof.  A  shoe  store  is  in  the 
basement,  with  long  strings  of  gaiters 
and  slippers  hanging  where  the  hat- 
rack  was,  a  bench  for  customers  impro- 
vised from  an  inverted  box  where  the 
sideboard  stood  ;  fertile  boxes  of  shoes 
are  in  the  kitchen  and  coal-hole.  And 
over  the  front  windows  five  yards  of 
outstretched  cotton  cloth  bears  the  sim- 
ple legend  "  SHOOES."  Up  stairs  is 
a  button  factory,  with  pendulous  and 
fascinating  strings  of  buttons  festooned 
across  the  aristocratic  windows.  The 
bed -rooms  higher  up  are  lawyers',  doc- 
tors', insurers'  offices;  and  into  the 
dormer  windows  of  the  roof  shoot  a 


RECONSTR  UCTION. 


55 


large  quiver  full  of  telegraphic  wires. 
The  next  building  is  a  stylish  structure 
with  a  bow  front ;  a  bank  president 
occupied  it  in  September,  and  is  per- 
chance still  an  exile  in  some  of  the 
upper  stories  —  but  the  bow  window  in 
the  parlor,  scene  of  what  countless  sly 
flirtations  and  pleasant  family  siestas, 
is  now  garnished  with  ladies'  stockings 
hung  up  in  graduated  array  ;  while  a 
brown  balmoral,  swinging,  a  silent  sen- 
tinel, at  the  door,  and  the  variety  of 
feminine  toggery  here  and  there  dis- 
played, complete  the  story  of  Mammon's 
invasion.  Further  on  is  a  pretty  cream- 
colored  cottage,  the  obvious  creation  of 
a  pair  who  were  at  once  lovers  and 
artists.  It  is  set  a  little  distance  from 
the  walk ;  it  has  the  angles  and  wings 
that  are  so  charming  and  picturesque  ; 
a  veranda  runs  cosily  around  it,  and 
along  and  about  it  climbs  a  vine  — 
a  cool  and  delightful  summer  trellis. 
Here,  too,  the  barbarians  have  effected 
an  entrance  and  broken  up  the  nest. 
Barrels  of  molasses  and  vinegar  and 
flour  lie  impudently  and  lazily  in '  the 
yard.  A  greasy  •  looking  man  goes  into 
the  door  with  a  kerosene  can,  and  a 
boy  sidles  out  giving  his  undivided 
attention  to  candy.  In  the  bay-win- 
dow is  a  symmetrical  cob -house,  con- 
structed of  bars  of  soap  ;  and  brooms, 
mops  and  codfish  are  disclosed  through 
the  leafless  trellis. 

A  little  further  down  the  block  a  bevy 
of  school -girls  issue  chattering  from  a 
ladies'  fancy  store  ;  laces,  collars,  cuffs, 
velvet  ribbon,  and  all  the  more  delicate 
furniture  of  the  female  form,  are  dis- 
played in  the  window  and  revealed 
through  the  door  ajar.  A  month  ago 
this  was  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  the 
sparks  flew  in  a  fountain  from  the  an- 
vil and  the  hammer  clattered  upon  a 
horse's  shoe.  Scrubbing-brush  and 
whitewash -brush  have  completely  dis- 
guised the  parvenu. 

Down  State  Street  to  Twentieth  — 
and  here  is  the  largest  dry  goods  store 
in  the  city  or  the  West :  Field,  Leiter 
&  Co.'s.  Here  are  hundreds  of  clerks 
and  thousands  of  patrons  a  day,  busy 


along  the  spacious  aisles  and  the  vast 
vistas  of  ribbons  and  laces  and  cloaks 
and  dress -goods.  This  tells  no  story 
of  a  fire.  The  ladies  jostle  each  other 
as  impatiently  as  of  old,  and  the  boys 
run  merrily  to  the  incessant  cry  of 
"  Cash."  Yet,  Madam,  this  immense 
bazaar  was  six  weeks  ago  the  horse- 
barn  of  the  South  Side  Railroad  !  After 
the  fire,  the  hay  was  pitched  out,  the 
oats  and  harness  and  equine  gear  were 
hustled  into  another  building,  both 
floors  were  garnished,  and  the  beams 
were  painted  or  whitewashed  for  their 
new  service.  Here,  where  ready- 
made  dresses  hang,  then  hung  sets  of 
double  -  harness ;  yonder,  where  a 
richly -robed  body  leans  languidly 
across  the  counter  and  fingers  point- 
laces,  a  manger  stood  and  offered 
hospitality  to  a  disconsolate  horse.  A 
strange  metamorphosis  !  —  yet  it  is  but 
an  extreme  illustration  of  the  sudden 
changes  the  city  has  undergone. 

All  up  and  down  Wabash  and  Michi- 
gan Avenues  on  the  South  Side,  and 
Monroe,  Madison,  Washington,  Ran- 
dolph, and  Lake  Streets  on  the  West 
Side,  the  fronts  of  the  houses  have 
been  suddenly  adapted  to  new  uses ; 
extensions  have  shot  out  from  the  base- 
ment to  the  sidewalk,  resinous  with  the 
smell  of  new  pine ;  and  signs  have  ap- 
peared in  all  sorts  of  uncanny  places 
—  spiked  to  the  handsome  front  door 
that  servants  in  livery  used  to  swing 
open  upon  its  bronze  hinges,  sticking 
awkwardly  from  the  oriole  window 
where  the  canaries  used  to  sing,  and 
even  sprouting  strange  arborescent 
growths  from  the  bit  of  greensward 
between  the  sidewalk  and  the  street, 
multicolored,  huge,  and  cruciform,  on 
duty  like  so  many  bucolic  warnings  to 
"  look  out  for  the  locomotive."  Ever 
since  the  fire,  Chicago  has  been  the 
Mecca  of  sign  -  painters  ;  and  every 
man  commanding  a  brush  and  paint- 
pot  was  sure  of  constant  employment 
at  high  wages,  whether  he  could  spell 
or  not.  Pine  boards  have  become  ex- 
hausted, and  broad  bands  of  white 
cotton  have  been  introduced  instead; 


RECONSTR  UCTIOJV. 


and  by  such  wrinkled  insignia  did  some 
of  the  wealthiest  of  the  National  Banks 
first  indicate  their  retreat. 

The  churches  that  are  spared  have 
been  curiously  appropriated  —  several 
of  them  by  the  Relief  Societies,  others 
by  institutions  that  are  of  the  earth 
earthy.  Here  is  one  overrun  and  ut- 
terly deluged  by  Uncle  Sam's  mail  — 
given  up  in  all  its  parts  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  city  postal  service.  One  is 
divided  up  for  offices :  a  lawyer  offers 
to  defend  your  title  ;  an  insurance  man 
volunteers  to  save  you  from  the  next 
fire ;  and  in  the  recess  that  used  to 
hold  the  choir,  a  dentist  holds  the 
heads  and  examines  the  mouths  of  his 
victims.  Another  church  is  turned 
into  a  watch  factory ;  and  still  another 
is  possessed  by  an  express  company  — 
and  over  the  official  desks  in  the  ves- 
try-room vaults  in  a  painted  bow  is  the 
suggestive  legend,  "  Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  tire  heavy  laden." 

As  already  intimated,  the  work  of 
rebuilding  began  the  instant  the  fire 
withdrew.  Indeed,  for  weeks  before 
the  flames  were  extinguished,  while 
fierce  volcanoes  smoked  and  glowed  in 
every  block,  and  the  vast  heaps  of  an- 
thracite threw  forth  angry  pink  and 
purple  tongues,  like  the  geysers  of  the 
Yellowstone,  thousands  of  men  were 
finding  the  old  dimensions  of  the  cel- 
lars and  building  up  the  stone  founda- 
tions anew. 

The  burnt  district  in  the  South  Di- 
vision— the  square  mile  bounded  by  the 
lake,  river,  and  Harrison  Street — is  too 
valuable  per  front  foot  to  furnish  hos- 
pitality to  sheds,  barracks  and  wooden 
warehouses  like  those  that  have  found 
room  elsewhere  among  the  ashes. 
The  real  estate  market,  as  far  as  there 
is  a  market,  shows  no  great  diminution 
below  the  prices  asked  and  paid  before 
the  fire,  and  taxes  over  all  these  hun- 
dred blocks  are  still  so  heavy  as  to 
render  prompt  rebuilding  imperative. 
So  it  happens  that  at  the  date  of  writ- 
ing more  than  half  the  cellars  again 
present  the  form  of  rectangular  excava- 
tions swept  and  garnished  for  the 


builder  s  force.  On  ea<-h  side  of  every 
square,  eager  teams  drag  up  the  inclines 
into  the  street  great  loads  of  brick, 
stone,  iron,  and  ashes,  and  the  founda 
tion  walls  rise  in  their  places  again  to 
the  cheery  cry  of  "Mort!"  as,  wooed 
by  the  strains  of  Amphion's  lute,  rose 
the  conscious  walls  of  Thebes  Jn  the 
cellars  of  warehouses,  where  great 
masses  of  iron  were  kept,  in  stove 
stores,  scale  stores,  and  wholesale 
stores  of  hoop -iron,  men,  armed  with 
drills,  crowbars,  huge  sledge-hammers 
and  blasting  powder,  are  toiling  to  dis- 
engage the  mass.  Even  the  iron  was 
as  straw  in  the  furnace -blast  of  that 
awful  morning, — stoves,  and  sheet  and 
pig  iron,  all  melted  miserably  and  ran 
helplessly  down,  roaring  with  rage,  to 
the  ground,  and  there  it  cooled  in  all 
fantastic  attitudes  and  shapes.  Here 
is  a  hillock  of  solid  iron,  as  large  as  an 
omnibus ;  there  is  a  platform  as  large 
as  Table  Rock — it  once  was  moulded 
into  kitchen  stoves  ;  yonder  are  upright 
masses,  some  of  them  rearing  like  a 
centaur,  and  others  writhing  like  the 
group  of  the  Laocoon ;  further  down 
the  ruins  is  a  building  where  the  lower 
stratum  of  the  flowing  metal  has 
cooled  first,  and  subsequent  cascades 
of  iron  have  dashed  over  it  and  trickled 
through  it  like  so  much  molasses ;  and 
beneath,  the  drippings  hang  in  iron 
crystal  stalactites,  from  an  inch  to  six 
feet  long,  like  the  lime  drippings  of  a 
cave  !  As  these  are  the  most  marvel- 
lous of  the  relics,  so  they  are  the  most 
difficult  to  dispose  of,  and  the  owners 
of  the  lots  are  now  quarrying  the  pon- 
derous masses  with  huge  levers,  blast- 
ing powder,  and  all  the  arts  of  engineer- 
ing. 

The  walls  of  more  than  three  hun- 
dred of  the  better  class  of  brick  and 
stone  buildings  are  already  rising  in 
the  South  Division  —  rising  even  in 
mid -winter,  when  masons  are  driven 
to  cover  in  every  other  city  north  of 
35°.  Who  thinks  of  using  a  trowel  all 
through  the  winter  months  in  New 
York,  Boston,  St.  Louis,  or  even  Cin- 
cinnati ?  Yet  three  thousand  masons 


RECONSTR  UCTION. 


57 


and  bricklayers  and  mortar  makers 
and  carriers  are  regularly  employed  in 
Chicago  all  the  week  through,  as  we 
write.  Many  builders  have  halted 
at  the  top  of  the  cellar  wall  to  wait  for 
March,  but  hundreds  of  others  are 
pushing  vigorously  upwards  in  spite  of 
every  obstacle  presented  by  an  extreme 
climate.  It  is  December,  but  an  arti- 
ficial summer  is  created  to  keep  the 
work  from  freezing  up  ;  a  bonfire  is 
blazing  before  the  mortar  bed  where 
the  compound  is  prepared  as  the 
housewife  prepares  her  dough ;  and 
other  and  smaller  fires  blaze  briskly  all 
around  within  the  rising  wall — a  fire 
on  every  mortar-board,  which  keeps 
the  mortar  plastic  and  the  blood  of  the 
brick-layer  uncongealed.  Thus  is  the 
smitten  city  rising  again  at  New 
Year's — rising,  as  she  fell,  by  fire. 

The  number  of  brick  and  stone 
buildings  in  process  of  erection  on  the 
first  day  of  December,  on  each  street 
in  the  South  Division,  was  as  follows: 


River  street 

8 

Polk  street 

i 

South  Water  street 

12 

Michigan  avenue 

3 

Lake  street 

IO 

Wabash  avenue  . 

17 

Randolph  street    . 

6 

State  street 

24 

Washington  street    . 

6 

Dearborn  street    . 

6 

Madison  street 

29 

Clark  street 

.     16 

Monroe  street  . 

26 

La  Salle  street 

4 

Adams  street 

2 

Fifth  avenue    . 

.      6 

Quincy  street  . 

I 

Franklin  street 

9 

Jackson  street 

I 

Market  street  . 

•       3 

Van  Buren  street 

I 

Miscellaneous 

21 

Harrison  street 

2 



Total 

It  is  probable  that  a  thousand  stone 
and  brick  buildings  will  be  in  process 
of  erection  by  May. 

After  the  fire,  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  issued  one -year  permits  for 
wooden  buildings,  which  virtually  ab- 
rogated the  ordinance  forbidding  them 
within  prescribed  limits.  In  four 
weeks  thereafter,  the  North  Side 
was  covered  with  wooden  buildings  so 


thickly  that  it  was  difficult  to  see  across 
the  blocks,  and  a  row  of  similar  struc- 
tures in  the  South  Division  soon 
stretched  along  the  hitherto  unoccupied 
Park,  on  the  east  side  of  Michigan 
Avenue,  a  mile  and  a  half,  from  the 
river's  mouth  to  Twelfth  Street.  Two 
stories  only  were  allowed,  but  some 
became  very  capacious  warehouses, 
adapted  to  the  largest  demands  of  a 
wholesale  traffic. 

The  gravest  peril  of  the  city  now 
lies  in  the  prolonged  existence  and 
ceaseless  multiplication  of  these  com- 
bustible piles  of  lumber.  Fire  limits 
were  prescribed  by  a  timid  Common 
Council  in  the  hour  of  its  dissolution, 
but  the  ordinance  is  openly  violated  in 
every  part  of  the  city  with  perfect  im- 
punity. The  first  man  has  yet  to  be 
arrested  or  annoyed  for  furnishing  food 
for  the  next  great  conflagration.  It 
would  seem  that  Chicago  could  scarcely 
afford  an  encore  of  the  performance  of 
October  8-9;  but  a  repetition  of  that 
tragedy  is  just  as  certain  to  follow  the 
persistence  in  our  clapboard  and 
shingle  madness,  as  is  any  given  effect 
to  succeed  an  adequate  cause. 

There  is  scarcely  any  city  on  the 
continent  so  exposed  to  prolonged  and 
terrible  winds  as  Chicago.  Our  con- 
stant imminent  menace  is  that  au- 
tumnal southwest  hurricane  which 
sweeps  up  from  the  wide  prairie  to  the 
lake,  eager  to  seize  upon  a  spark  and 
nurse  it  into  a  conflagration.  Let  a 
block  get  well  on  fire  towards  the 
Stock  Yards  in  some  densely  settled 
locality,  in  the  face  of  such  a  gale,  and 
all  the  apparatus  of  the  fire  department 
must  prove  futile.  Nothing  but  acres 
of  solid  brick  or  stone  buildings  that 
are  virtually  fire -proof  can  stop  it. 

W.  A.   Croffut. 


REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


PART  IV.— THE  LOSSES.' 


REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


THE  extent  of  the  devastation  was 
so  great,  and  the  wreck  so  wide- 
spread, that  a  description  of  the  area 
burned  over  and  of  the  pecuniary  losses 
entailed,  can  scarcely  convey  an  idea 
of  its  magnitude,  more  than  a  state- 
ment of  the  distance  of  a  fixed  star 
enables  us  to  bridge  the  gulf  between 
it  and  the  earth.  And  though  we  may 
apply  the  measuring  rod  to  the  scene 
of  the  carnage,  and  reduce  into  dollars 
and  cents  the  value  of  the  property 
destroyed,  there  are  many  and  compre- 
hensive losses  not  susceptible  of  a 
pecuniary  classification.  There  are 
tens  of  thousands  of  material  things 
that  elude  the  attempt  to  assign  them 
monetary  worth  ;  much  less  can  we  fix 
a  value  on  the  sum  total  of  human 
happiness  lost  and  human  life  de- 
stroyed by  the  dread  visitation. 

Grave  difficulties  exist,  too,  in  the 
way  of  ascertaining  the  extent  of  even 
'the  more  tangible  losses,  though  sev- 
eral weeks  have  now  elapsed  since  the 
event.  The  destruction  was  so  com- 
plete that  it  not  only  obliterated  the 
property  itself,  but  swept  out  of  exist- 
ence the  records  of  its  value  and  the 
evidences  of  proprietorship.  And  in 
the  last  -  named  fact  we  have  another 
most  perplexing  element  introduced 
into  the  previously  complicated  prob- 
lem, which  if  not  rightly  treated  would 
involve  us  in  the  most  inextricable  con- 
fusion. The  loss  of  title  to  real  or  per- 
sonal property  does  not  necessarily  in- 
volve the  loss  of  that  property  to  the 
community.  What  is  lost  to  one  in 
this  way,  may  be  gained  by  another. 

In  this  article  we  shall  try  to  answer 
the  questions,  What  was  burned  up  ? 
and  What  was  the  amount  of  loss  to 
the  community  as  a  whole  ?  leaving 


untouched  the  equalization  of  the  nu- 
merous differences  arising  between  in- 
dividuals as  a  result  of  the  catastrophe. 
Hence  we  make  no  allowance  for  the 
loss  of  evidences  of  title  or  indebted- 
ness, because  those  documents  simply 
indicate  in  whose  hands  the  property 
in  question  shall  rest.  Yet  it  would  be 
unfair  to  include  bank  notes  under  this 
head,  for,  though  really  nothing  but 
certificates,  they  were  actually  accepted 
and  used  as  money,  and  it  will  be  some 
time  before  the  place  of  those  bills  will 
be  supplied  by  others :  though  not  in 
existence,  they  are  still  recognized  as 
liabilities  by  the  banks  that  issued 
them. 

For  the  same  reason,  we  disregard 
the  item  of  insurance  on  property 
burned.  It  was  very  consoling  to  the. 
policy  holder  to  find  that  he  was  in- 
sured in  companies  that  would  pay  a 
hundred  cents  on  the  dollar.  But  this 
only  settled  the  question  as  to  how 
widely  the  loss  should  be  distributed, 
and  who  should  bear  it.  In  the  case 
of  many  of  those  who  were  the  most 
wealthy  before  the  fire,  the  question 
was  even  less  important  than  this. 
Their  property  was  insured,  but  they 
were  also  large  stockholders  in  the  in- 
surance companies ;  so  that  if  the 
insurance  were  good,  it  would  simply 
amount  to  an  offset  of  one  loss  against 
another. 

Neither  would  it  be  fair  to  swell  the 
total  with  allowances  for  expenses  in- 
curred in  caring  for  property  during 
the  fire,  or  the  increased  cost  of  replac- 
ing it,  owing  to  the  higher  price  of 
labor  and  material ;  because  these  in- 
curred expenditures  inure  to  the  bene- 
fit of  the  persons  receiving  the  money, 
which  is  not,  therefore,  lost  to  the  com 


REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


59 


munity.  In  regard  to  losses  on  the 
rental  of  property,  an  allowance  ought 
probably  to  be  made,  but  these  are 
largely  counterbalanced  on  the  general 
account,  by  the  enhanced  rentals  se- 
cured on  property  not  touched  by  the 
fire.  The  most  important  allowance 
in  this  direction  will  be  that  due  to  the 
interruption  to  the  trade  and  commerce 
of  the  city  —  the  temporary  suspension 
of  the  productive  energies  of  the 
people. 

The  questions  to  be  answered  are, 
then,  How  much  property  was  de- 
stroyed ?  and  What  was  the  value  of 
the  property  consumed  by  the  flames  ? 

In  the  West  Division,  where  the  fire 
originated,  the  number  of  acres  burned 
over  was  194,  including  sixteen  acres 
which  were  laid  bare  by  the  fire  of  the 
previous  evening.  This  district  con- 
tained'about  500  buildings,  inhabited 
by  2,250  persons.  These  buildings 
were  generally  of  the  poorer  class,  and 
comprised  a  great  many  boarding- 
houses,  saloons,  and  minor  hotels,  with 
a  few  factories.  They  were  not  of 
much  value,  but  were  closely  packed 
together.  This  district  contained  also 
several  lumber  and  coal  yards  and 
planing  mills,  one  grain  elevator,  with 
the  union  depot  of  the  Pittsburg  and 
Fort  Wayne,  and  the  St.  Louis  Rail- 
roads. This  depot  was  much  the  least 
valuable  of  all  those  destroyed. 

The  burned  area  in  the  South  Divi- 
sion comprised  about  460  acres.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Lind  Block,  on 
the  river  bank,  between  Randolph  and 
Lake  Streets,  it  included  all  north  of 
an  irregular  line  running  diagonally 
from  the  intersection  of  Polk  Street 
with  the  river,  to  the  corner  of  Con- 
gress Street  and  Michigan  Avenue. 
This  district,  though  comparatively 
small  in  extent,  was  by  far  the  most 
valuable  in  the  city ;  it  was  the  very 
heart  and  head  of  Chicago  as  a  com- 
mercial centre.  It  contained  the  great 
majority  of  all  those  structures  which 
were  at  once  costly  in  themselves,  and 
filled  with  the  wealth  of  merchandise 
that  made  the  city  the  great  emporium 


of  the  Northwest.  All  the  wholesale 
stores  of  any  considerable  magnitude, 
all  the  daily  and  weekly  newspaper 
offices,  all  the  principal  banks,  the 
leading  hotels,  many  extensive  factor- 
ies (principally  of  clothing,  boots  and 
shoes,  and  jewelry),  all  the  offices  of 
insurance  men,  lawyers,  produce  bro- 
kers, etc.,  the  Custom  House,  Court 
House,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  all  the 
principal  public  halls  and  places  of 
amusement,  many  coal  yards,  the 
monster  Central  Railroad'  Depot,  with 
its  numerous  buildings  for  the  transac- 
tion of  business  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral, Michigan  Central,  and  Chicago, 
Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroads,  the 
Central  Elevator  A,  the  Union  Depot 
of  the  Michigan  Southern  (  Lake 
Shore),  and  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroads,  many  public  storehouses,  a 
large  number  of  fine  residences  on  the 
Avenues  ;  in  short,  the  great  bulk  of 
the  wealth  of  the  city  was  located  in 
this  district.  The  3,650  buildings  de- 
stroyed in  the  South  Division  included 
i, 600  stores,  twenty -eight  hotels,  and 
sixty  manufacturing  establishments, 
and  were  the  homes  of  about  21,800 
people. 

In  the  North  Division,  the  flames 
swept  not  less  than  1,470  acres,  de- 
stroying 13,300  buildings,  the  homes 
of  74,450  people,  and  leaving  but. 
about  500  buildings  unharmed.  These 
structures  included  more  than  600 
stores  and  100  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments. Most  of  the  latter  were 
situated  in  the  southwest  part  of  this 
division,  in  a  few  blocks  lying  east  of 
Kinzie  Street  bridge ;  but  there  were 
also  many  on  the  north  bank,  towards 
the  lake  shore,  including  McCor- 
mick's  Reaper  factory,  a  sugar  refinery, 
box  mills,  etc.  The  lake  shore,  from 
Chicago  Avenue  north,  was  lined  with 
breweries.  The  river  banks  were  piled 
high  with  lumber  and  coal,  three  grain 
elevators  stood  near  the  fork  of  the 
river,  and  near  them  the  Galena  depot, 
its  freight  buildings  further  to  the  east 
Many  hotels  and  private  storehouses 
for  produce  and  other  property  also 


6o 


REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


existed  in  this  neighborhood,  and  the 
wholesale  meat  markets  on  Kinzie 
Street  were  a  busy  centre  of  trade. 
North  Clark,  Wells,  and  North  and 
Chicago  Avenues,  were  principally  oc- 
cupied by  retail  stores.  The  region 
south  of  the  Water  Works  and  east  of 
Clark  Street  was  at  one  time  the  most 
aristocratic  part  of  the  city.  It  con- 
tained a  great  number  of  fine  buildings, 
occupied  principally  by  the  earliest 
settlers  or  their  families.  This  district 
included  many  churches,  the  Rush 
Medical  College,  the  Historical  Society 
building,  with  its  treasures,  etc.  Out- 
side of  this  section  the  buildings  in  the 
North  Division  had  been,  till  recently, 
of  the  poorer  class ;  but  the  establish- 
ment of  Lincoln  Park,  and  the  closing 
of  the  old  cemetery,  had  caused  a  radi- 
cal change  in  this  respect  within  the 
five  years  preceding  the  fire.  A  large 
number  of  very  fine  residences  had 
been  erected  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Park,  and  a  great  improvement 
was  apparent  in  the  architecture  of  the 
whole  North  Division,  except  one  or 
two  small  sections,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  tacitly  given  up  to  poverty 
and  its  accompaniments. 

The  total  area  burned  over  in  the 
city,  including  streets,  was  2,124  acres, 
or  nearly  three  and  one -third  square 
miles.  This  area  contained  about  73 
miles  of  streets,  and  17,450  buildings, 
the  homes  of  98,500  people.  The  fol- 
lowing were  some  of  the  most  important 
structures  burned  : 

Among  Public  Buildings  were,  the 
Court  House,  consisting  of  a  central 
portion  erected  in  1853  and  enlarged 
in  1857,  and  two  wings,  each  80  by  130 
feet,  and  three  stories  high  besides  the 
basement ;  a  handsome  stone  structure, 
costing  altogether  about  $1,100,000. 
The  Custom  House  and  Post  Office, 
erected  in  1858-9,  by  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, cost  $650,000.  The  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  erected  in  1864-5  at  a 
cost  of  #235,000,  besides  a  building  on 
the  south  used  for  offices,  the  total  cost 
being  $384,000.  The  principal  building 
was  constructed  of  Athens  marble,  and 


covered  an  area  of  91  by  180  feet ;  the 
basement  and  first  floor  were  occupied 
by  banks,  insurance  offices,  and  promi- 
nent produce  dealers.  Above  these 
was  the  Exchange  Hall,  88  by  143 
feet,  with  a  44  -  foot  ceiling,  in  which 
the  1,250  members  ot  the  Board  of 
Trade  used  to  transact  business.  With 
these  we  may  note  the  city  property 
other  than  the  Court  House  ;  the  Ar- 
mory, Huron  -  st.  and  Larrabee  -  st. 
police  stations,  five  fire-engine  houses, 
several  hook  and  ladder  buildings,  and 
eight  bridges  ($200,000).  The  public 
schools  burned  were  the  Jones,  Kinzie, 
Franklin,  Ogden,  Pearson -st.,  Elm-  st., 
LaSalle-  st.,  and  North  Branch  schools, 
with  several  adjunct  buildings. 

The  railroad  property  destroyed  in- 
cluded the  Central  Depot,  at  the  foot  of 
Lake  Street,  with  several  other  build- 
ings, occupied  as  offices  for  the  Illinois 
Central  Land  Department,  the  Michi- 
gan Central  and  Chicago,  Burlington 
&  Quincy  general  offices  and  freight 
depots,  besides  which  the  dockage  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company 
was  considerably  damaged  ;  the  depot 
of  the  Rock  Island  and  Michigan 
Southern  Railroads,  the  Galena  depot, 
and  some  wooden  structures  belonging 
to  the  West  Side  Union  depot. 

The  Grain  Elevators  burned  were, 
the  Central  A,  National,  Galena,  Hi- 
ram Wheeler's,  and  the  Munger  and 
Armour.  These  contained  1,642,000 
bushels  of  grain.  Considerable  quan- 
tities of  grain  were  also  burned  up  in 
several  smaller  warehouses  (private)  in 
the  North  Division. 

The  halls,  theatres,  etc.,  included  the 
Opera  House,  built  in  1864,  with  Beet- 
hoven Hall,  in  the  State  Street  front ; 
Farwell  Hall,  the  home  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association ;  Metro- 
politan Hall  Block,  occupied  by  the 
Young  Men's  Library  Association  ;  the 
Museum  Block;  McVicker's  Theatre, 
rebuilt  in  1871,  and  reopened  only  a 
short  time  before  the  fire ;  Dearborn 
Street  Theatre ;  Hooley  £  Aiken's 
Opera  House,  on  the  former  site  of 
Bryan  Hall;  Academy  of  Design; 


REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


61 


Olympic   Theatre ;    German    Theatre  ; 
and  Turner  Hall. 

The  Hotels  burned  included  the 
Sherman,  Trcmont,  Bigelow,  Palmer, 
Briggs,  Adams,  Metropolitan,  St. 


Matteson,  City,  Clifton,  Hatch,  Ander- 
son's, Burke's,  Central,  Eagle,  Eu- 
ropean, Everett,  Garden  City,  Girard, 
Hess,  Orient,  Schall's,  Hotel  Garni, 
Howard,  Hutchinson's,  New  York, 


James,    Revere,    Nevada,     Massasoit,      Washington,  and  Wright's. 


THE   PALMER    HOUSE. 


The  daily  newspaper  buildings  were 
those  occupied  by  the  Tribune  ;  Times  ; 
Journal ;  Republican  ;  Staats  Zcitung, 
and  Post ;  Mail,  and  Union  ,  and  Volks 
Zeitung.  The  offices  of  THE  LAKESIDE 
MONTHLY  were  in  the  Tribune  Build- 
ing. 

The  list  of  church  property  burned  is 
an  extensive  one ;  it  comprises  the  fol- 
lowing: Baptist  —  North,  Second,  Ger- 


man and  Swedish,  North  Star,  and 
Lincoln  Park  Mission.  Congregational 
—  New  England  and  Lincoln  Park. 
Episcopal  —  Ascension,  St.  Ansgarius, 
St.  James,  and  Trinity.  Jewish  —  North 
Side,  Sinai,  Kehilath  Benai  Sholom, 
and  Hospital.  Methodist  Episcopal  — 
First  (business  block),  Grace,  Van  Bu- 
ren  Street,  Clybournc  Avenue,  First 
Scandinavian,  Bethel  'colored),  Ouinn's 


62 


REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


(colored),  and  $85,000  worth  of  Garret 
Biblical  Institute  property.  Scandina- 
vian Lutheran  —  First  Norwegian,  and 
Swedish.  Presbyterian  —  First,  and 
Mission,  Fourth,  Bremer  Street  Mission, 
Erie  Street  Mission,  and  Clybourne 
Avenue  Mission.  Roman  Catholic  — 
Holy  Name,  St.  Mary's,  Immaculate 
Conception,  St.  Michael's,  St.  Joseph's, 
St.  Louis',  St.  Paul's,  Convents  of  Sisters 
of  Mercy  and  Good  Shepherd,  St.  Jo- 
seph's Orphan  Asylum,  Christian  Broth- 
ers' College,  Alexian  Hospital,  and 
Bishop's  Palace.  Swedenborgian  — 
Temple,  and  North  Mission.  Unitarian 
—  Unity.  Illinois  Street  Mission,  and 
Mariners'  Bethel. 


Among  business  blocks  the  following 
were  the  most  prominent,  each  being 
worth  $50.000  or  over :  Arcade,  on 
Clark,  near  Madison ;  "  Booksellers 
Row,"  on  State,  near  Madison  ;  Bow- 
en's,  on  Randolph,  near  Michigan 
Avenue ;  Bryan,  corner  of  La  Salle  and 
Monroe ;  Burch's,  on  Lake,  near  Wa- 
bash  Avenue ;  City  National  Bank ; 
Cobb's,  corner  of  Lake  and  Michigan 
Avenue ;  Commercial  Building,  corner 
of  La  Salle  and  Lake ;  Commercial 
Insurance  Company's,  on  Washington, 
near  La  Salle ;  Depository,  on  Ran 
dolph,  near  La  Salle ;  Dickey's,  corner 
of  Dearborn  and  Lake ;  Drake  &  Far- 
well,  corner  of  Wabash  Avenue  and 


DRAKE   AND   FARWELL   BLOCK. 


Washington  ;  Ewing,  on  North  Clark, 
near  Kinzie ;  Exchange  Bank,  corner 
Lake  and  Clark ;  First  National  Bank, 
corner  State  and  Washington  ;  Fuller- 
ton,  corner  Washington  and  Dearborn  ; 
Field,  Leiter  &  Co.  (Palmer's),  corner 


State  and  Washington  ;  Honore  (two), 
on  Dearborn,  near  Monroe ;  Illinois 
State  Savings,  on  La  Salle,  near  Wash- 
ington ;  Keep's,  on  Clark,  near  Madi- 
son ;  Kent's,  on  Monroe,  near  La  Salle ; 
Link's,  corner  Lake  and  La  Salle ; 


REAL  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


Lill's  Brewery ;  Lloyd's,  corner  Ran- 
dolph and  Wells;  Lombard,  corner 
Monroe  and  Custom  House  Place ; 
McCormick's,  corner  Lake  and  Michi- 
gan Avenue ;  McCormick's,  corner 
Randolph  and  Dearborn  ;  McCormick's 
Reaper  Factory,  near  Rush  Street 
bridge ;  Magic's,  corner  La  Salle  and 
Randolph  ;  Major,  corner  Madison  and 
La  Salle ;  Marine  Bank,  corner  Lake 
and  La  Salle  ;  Masonic,  on  Dearborn, 
near  Washington ;  Mechanics',  on 
Washington,  near  La  Salle ;  Mercan- 
tile, on  La  Salle,  near  Washington ; 
Merchants'  Insurance  Company,  cor- 
ner Washington  and  La  Salle  ;  Monroe, 
corner  Clark  and  Monroe ;  Morrison, 
on  Clark,  near  Monroe ;  Newberry, 
corner  Wells  and  Kinzie  ;  Newhouse, 
on  South  Water,  near  Fifth  Avenue ; 
Oriental,  on  La  Salle,  near  Washington ; 
Otis,  corner  Madison  and  La  Salle ; 
Pope's  (two),  Madison,  near  Clark ; 
Portland,  corner  Dearborn  and  Wash- 
ington ;  Purple's,  corner  Clark  and 
Ontario  ;  Raymond's,  corner  State  and 
Madison ;  Republic  Life  Insurance 
Company,  corner  La  Salle  and  Arcade 
Court ;  Reynolds,  corner  Dearborn  and 
Madison ;  Rice's,  on  Dearborn,  near 
Randolph ;  Scammon,  corner  Ran- 
dolph and  Michigan  Avenue ;  Shep- 
hard's,  on  Dearborn,  near  Monroe; 
Smith  &  Nixon's,  corner  Washington 
and  Clark  ;  Speed's,  on  Dearborn,  near 
Madison  ;  Steele's,  corner  La  Salle  and 
South  Water ;  Sands'  Brewery ;  Tur- 
ner's, corner  State  and  Kinzie ;  Tyler's, 
on  La  Salle,  near  South  Water ;  Uhlich's, 
on  Clark,  near  Kinzie ;  Walker's,  on 
Dearborn,  near  Couch  Place  ;  Wicker, 
corner  State  and  South  Water. 

The  following  valuation  of  losses 
was  prepared  by  the  writer  for  Colbert 
&  Chamberlin's  "  History  of  Chicago 
and  the  Great  Conflagration  ": 

BUILDINGS. 

Eighty  business  blocks,  enumerated,    -  f,  8,515,000 
Railroad  depots,  warehouses,  and  Board 
of  Trade,          -        -  -        -        2,700,030 

Hotels,     -------     3,100,000 

Theatres,  etc.,     -  865,030 

Daily  newspapers  ("offices  and  buildings),  888,000 
One  hundred  other  business  buildings,  1,008,420 
Other  taxable  buildings,  ...  28,880,000 


Churches  and  contents, 
Pub'.ic  Schools  and  contents, 
Other  public  buildings,  not  taxed, 
Other  public  property  (streets,  etc.), 

Total,  -        ... 

PRODUCE,  ETC. 

Flour,  1 5 ,000  barrels ,   - 

Grain  - 

Provisions  (4,400,000  Ibs),    - 

Lumber,    - 

Coal,     - 

Other  produce, 

Total  produce,       - 


2,989,000 

249,780 

3,121,800 

-     1,763,000 

^53,000,000 


$        97,5oo 

1,245,000 

340,000 

1,040,000 

600,000 

i ,940,000 

^5,262,500 


BUSINESS — WHOLESALE  AND  RETAIL. 

Dry  goods,                                              -     $  13,500,000 

Drugs ,     -  i  ,000,000 

Boots,  shoes,  leather,  etc.,          -        -  5,175,000 

Hardware,  iron,  and  other  metals,  4,510,000 

Groceries  and  teas,     -  4,120,000 

Wholesale  clothing,  3,650,000 

Jewelry,  etc., 1,300,000 

Musical  Instruments,  etc.,      -        -  900,000 

Books  on  sale, 1,145,000 

Millinery, 1,610,000 

Hats,  caps,  and  furs,          -  1,060,000 

Wholesale  paper  stock,  -        -         -  700,000 

Shipping  and  dredges,        -  800,000 
Manufactures    (stock,  machinery,   and 

product), 13,255,000 

Other  stocks,  and  business   furniture,  25,975,000 


Total  Business  loss,     -        -        -      $78, 700,000 

PERSONAL   EFFECTS. 

Household  property,                             -     $  41,000,000 

Manuscript  work  (records,  etc.),     -  10,000,000 

Libraries,  public  and  private      -        -  2,010,000 

Money  lost  (Custom  House  $2,130,000),  5,700,000 

Total  personal  effects       -        -          $58, 710,000 

GENERAL   SUMMARY. 

Improvements  (buildings,  etc.),         -  $  53,000,000 

Produce,  etc.,  5,262,500 

Manufactures,     -----  13,255,000 

Other  business  property,  65,445,000 

Personal   effects,                                      -  58,710,000 

Miscellaneous,         -  378,000 

Grand  total,          -  $196,000,000 

In  the  first  table  the  contents  of 
churches  and  schools  and  of  news- 
paper offices  are  included  in  the  foot- 
ing of  #53,000,000.  Placing  these 
where  they  belong,  we  shall  have  the 
following  distribution  of  loss : 

On  Buildings,  etc.,     -  -     $  52,000,000 

On  Business  Property  (besides  bldgs.),      85,000,000 
On  Personal  Effects,       ...  59,000,000 


Total  burned, 


-    $196,000,000 


On  this  there  was  a  salvage  of  about 


64 


COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 


$4,000,000  in  foundations,  and  bricks 
available  for  re-building,  making  the 
actual  loss  $192,000,000. 

The  assessed  value  of  the  land  in 
the  city,  just  previous  to  the  fire,  was 
$176,931,900,  which  was  about  sixty 
per  cent,  of  the  actual  cash  value. 
Hence  the  real  value  of  the  land  within 
the  city  limits  was  $294,836,000.  On 
this  we  estimate  an  average  deprecia- 
tion of  about  thirty  per  cent,  since  the 
fire,  though  much  of  this  can  be  but 
temporary.  This  gives  a  loss  of  $88,- 
000,000  on  the  selling  value  of  real 
estate  in  consequence  of  the  fire. 

Even  yet  the  total  of  loss  is  not  com- 
plete. We  must  allow  for  the  inter- 
ruption of  business  and  manufacturing 
operations.  This  would  average  about 
six  weeks,  or  one -eighth  part  of  the 
whole  vear.  We  estimate  that  the  tire 


diminished  the  receipts  of  the  city  to 
the  extent  of  $50,000,000  worth  of 
goods,  which  interrupted  business  to 
the  extent  of  $125,000,000  worth  of 
trading,  at  wholesale  and  retail.  The 
very  moderate  estimate  of  eight  per 
cent,  profit  would  give  a  further  loss 
of  $10,000,000,  and  we  shall  then  have 
the  following  as  the  exhibit : 

On  Property  burned  up,     -  -     $192,000,000 

On  depreciation  of  Real  Estate    -  88,000,000 

On  interruption  to  business,        -  10,000,000 

Grand  total,     -  $290,000,000 

We  estimate  the  value  of  property 
in  the  city  the  day  before  the  fire,  real 
and  personal,  taxed  and  untaxed,  at 
$620,000,000.  The  loss  by  the  fire 
was,  therefore,  nearly  forty -seven  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  of  the  property 
owned  in  Chica"o.  Ellas  Colbert. 


COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS 


DURING  the  terrible  Monday,  to 
the  question,  "  In  what  company 
are  you  insured  ?"  the  uniform  answer 
was,  "  It  makes  no  difference  now  ;  in- 
surance is  worthless."  That  was  the 
almost  universal  feeling.  Gradually 
the  sober  second  thought  came,  and 
men  began  to  hope.  The  distrust  of 
insurance  companies  was  not  a  con- 
viction,— it  was  rather  a  part  of  the 
general  smoke.  As  soon  as  men  be- 
gan to  reason,  the  rays  of  hope  began 
to  shine.  It  was  seen  at  once  that  all 
underwriters  had  some  assets,  and 
every  one  must  pay  in  full  or  be  put 
into  the  hands  of  a  receiver.  Suffer- 
ers then  began  to  cast  about,  to  look 
up  their  papers  if  not  destroyed,  and 
if  they  were  to  ask  if  they  could  not 
be  restored.  And  so  by  degrees  this 
second  stage  of  uncertainty  gave  way 
to  definite  knowledge  of  what  to  expect. 
A  bird's-eye  view  of  the  situation 
showed  that  insurance  was  good,  as  a 
rule,  in  proportion  as  it  was  a  good 
ways  from  home.  The  foreign  risks  of 


Chicago  amounted  to  only  $6,000,000. 
Those  were  all  "  placed  "  originally  in 
a  few  very  heavy  English  companies. 
Then,  too,  it  is  the  custom  across  the 
water  to  distribute  risks  among  neigh- 
boring companies.  But  even  without 
this  prudent  system  of  distribution,  all 
those  policies  would  have  been  paid, 
dollar  for  dollar.  It  was  equally  ob- 
vious at  a  glance  that  home  insurance 
was  next  to  worthless  ;  that  every  com- 
pany doing  any  considerable  amount 
of  home  business  had  vastly  larger 
losses  than  capital.  One  home  com- 
pany, the  Great  Western,  was  an 
exception,  owing  to  its  youth ;  and 
another,  the  American,  escaped  the 
general  crash  because  it  had  no  local 
risks.  Still  another,  the  Republic,  after 
being  in  a  peculiar  "  dead  and  alive  " 
condition  for  several  weeks,  finally  an- 
nounced that  its  losses  would  be  paid 
in  full  —  an  assessment  upon  its  stock- 
holders having  been  made  to  supply 
the  deficiency  between  its  assets  and 
losses  by  the  fire.  With  these  excep- 


COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 


tions,  all  home  companies  went  down 
in  the  common  wreck. 

The  following  table  shows  the  aggre- 
gate loss  of  the  companies  by  States, 
the  number  of  companies  in  each 
State,  and  the  number  suspended  : 


TOTAL 
LOSSES 

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The  failure  of  the  Prince  Albert  of 
London,  a  few  years  ago,  and  of  the 
Home  of  Hartford,  shook  public  con- 
fidence in  distant  companies.  The 
general  feeling  was,  in  Chicago  at  least, 
that  a  home  company  was  safer  be- 
cause its  affairs  were  open  to  full  inspec- 
tion. The  adoption  of  our  present 
system  of  State  supervision,  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  1868-69,  strength- 
ened the  confidence  in  all  fire  risks. 

It  is  always  easy  to  find  fault,  and 
after  any  great  disaster  point  out  blun- 
ders. Much  unjust  censure  has  been 
heaped  upon  Chicago  insurance  com- 
panies. No  one  is  to  blame  for  not 
anticipating  such  a  sweeping  conflag- 
ration, and  our  companies  were  quite 
as  sound  as  the  average  of  the  three 
hundred  and  thirty- five  in  the  country. 
They  all  have  manifold  greater  liabili- 
ties than  capital.  If  they  did  not, 
there  would  be  no  profit  in  the  business. 
The  underwriting  system  is  based  upon 
the  supposition  that  it  is  safe  to  have 


about  thirty  dollars  of  risks  to  one  dol- 
lar of  capital.  The  losses  of  United 
States  companies  by  this  one  fire  ex- 
ceed their  aggregate  'capital  by  nearly 
$8,000,000;  and  eighty -seven  of  them 
were  not  affected  at  all,  and  only  fifty- 
seven  have  suspended.  The  grand 
mistake  made  was  in  taking  such  vast 
risks  in  one  city.  A  great  conflagra- 
tion is  always  possible ;  and  had  the 
Chicago  fire  been  one -tenth  its  actual 
proportions,  it  would  have  been  no 
less  fatal  to  our  local  companies.  Home 
policies  are  the  least  desirable  of  any, 
because  the  flames  which  destroy  the 
property  insured  may  destroy  the  assets 
of  the  insurer.  Hartford  is  the  in- 
surance capital  of  the  country  ;  and  it 
is  noticeable  that  while  the  entire  losses 
of  Connecticut  were  only  $9,325,000, 
those  of  New  York  were  $21,637,500, 
and  those  of  Illinois  foot  up  $33,- 
878,000.  The  policy  of  distribution 
seems  to  have  been  adopted  by  the 
older  companies  before  this  latest  and 
plainest  lesson  was  given. 

The  especial  insurance  lesson  of  the 
Great  Fire  is  this  :  Distribute  risks.  If 
one  city  can  burn  up,  any  city  can.  In 
no  one  place  should  a  company  assume 
liabilities  beyond  its  power  to  pay,  in 
case  of  a  general  conflagration.  State 
legislation  should  guard  against  this 
grand  mistake  of  our  insurance  system 
as  at  present  conducted. 

The  solicitude  in  regard  to  the  in- 
surance companies  was  absolute  indif- 
ference in  comparison  with  the  anxiety 
about  the  banks.  There  are  twenty  - 
seven  of  these  institutions  in  Chicago, 
counting  only  those  belonging  to  the 
Clearing  House  Association.  In  what 
condition  their  vaults  would  be  found, 
no  one  could  tell ;  and  in  most  cases 
the  valuables  were  all  stored  in  those 
repositories.  It  was  known  that  the 
vaults  of  the  Court  House  and  Custom 
House  were  not  fire  proof,  and  the 
wildest  rumors  were  rife  about  this  and 
that  bank.  For  several  days  the  heat 
was  so  intense  that  no  examination 
was  possible.  That  was  a  terrible  sus- 


66 


COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 


pense.  All  the  buildings  and  goods 
destroyed  were  of  less  value  than  the 
currency,  notes,  bonds,  bills  of  ex- 
change, and  other  papers,  in  the  vaults 
of  those  twenty- seven  banks.  Squads 
of  soldiers  guarded  them  day  and 
night.  In  the  meanwhile  the  bankers 
met  to  discuss  the  situation.  A  com- 
mittee- was  appointed  to  draw  up  a 
programme.  The  President  of  one 
National  Bank  stood  alone  in  simply 
saying,  "  Gentlemen,  there  is  only  one 
way  :  go  ahead  as  usual,  paying  dollar 
for  dollar.  If  we  cannot  do  that,  we 
must  wind  up."  The  others  were  either 
silent,  or  said,  "  Even  if  our  vaults  are 
all  right,  we  cannot  pay  in  full  at 
once."  The  committee  agreed  upon 
recommending  that  they  should  re- 
sume by  paying  an  instalment  of  twen- 
ty-five per  cent.  When  that  report 
was  made,  the  president  of  another 
bank — a  man  whose  wealth  was  reck- 
oned by  millions — protested  that  the 
figure  was  too  high,  and  insisted  upon 
its  reduction  to  ten  per  cent.  The 
final  agreement  was  upon  fifteen  per 
cent.  The  Comptroller  of  the  Cur- 
rency at  Washington,  Hon.  H.  R.  Hurl- 
burd,  at  once  telegraphed  to  the  Na- 
tional Banks  to  await  his  arrival  before 
resuming.  He  arrived  on  the  Satur- 
day following  the  fire.  By  that  time 
the  vaults  had  been  opened,  and  all 
but  one  bank  was  unscathed.  The 
only  exception  was  the  Merchants 
Savings  Loan  and  Trust  Company ; 
and  it  was  only  the  account -books  of 
that  bank  which  perished.  On  Sun- 
day the  Comptroller  met  the  bankers, 
and  the  whole  subject  was  discussed. 
That  official  insisted  that  the  true  policy 
was  to  resume  in  full.  In  this  opinion 
he  was  inflexible.  His  ultimatum  was 
that  if  any  National  Bank  failed  to 
resume  in  full  as  early  as  three  o'clock 
of  the  following  Tuesday,  he  should 
put  a  receiver  in  charge  of  its  affairs. 
The  consequence  was  that  every  bank 
announced  that  it  would  resume  busi- 
ness as  usual,  Tuesday,  October  lyth. 

The  effect  of  bank  resumption  was 
more  than  magical.    Not  a  single  bank- 


ing house  in  all  Chicago,  small  or  great, 
failed.  The  solvency  of  our  banks 
was  the  first  positive  assurance  the 
country  had  that  Chicago  would  rise 
from  her  ruins.  Talk  is  cheap,  whether 
of  the  tongue  or  the  types.  What  the 
press  said  needed  the  substantial  in- 
dorsement of  the  banks.  Board  of 
Trade  circulars,  mercantile  encylicals, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  were  useful , 
but  the  leverage  of  finance  was  indis- 
pensable to  raise  the  fallen  prestige  of 
desolated  Chicago,  and  convince  the 
world  that  the  City  of  Ashes  had  vital- 
ity enough  to  recover  itself. 

There  were  two  things  accomplished 
by  the  bank  policy  :  First,  the  capital 
and  capacity  already  here  were  induced 
to  remain ;  no  business  deserted  the 
city ;  it  was  only  the  flies  upon  the 
coach  wheel  which  flew  off;  stalwart 
men  took  heart,  and  nerved  themselves 
for  the  work  of  reconstruction.  Sec- 
ond, outside  capital  and  enterprise 
were  drawn  hither  at  once ;  and  the 
men  who  came  here  did  not  come  as 
wreckers  to  pick  up  the  waifs  of  the 
storm,  but,  hopeful  for  Chicago's  fu- 
ture, they  came  to  cast  in  their  fortunes 
with  its  regeneration,  by  aiding  to 
repair  the  ravages  of  the  fire. 

In  looking  back  at  this  terrible  or- 
deal, the  close  observer  sees  that  it  was 
a  severe  test  of  the  soundness  of  our 
National  Bank  system.  In  1857,  the 
failure  of  one  bank  in  Cincinnati 
brought  our  whole  monetary  institu- 
tions to  the  brink  of  ruin  ;  and  a  host 
of  them  actually  passed  over  the  cata- 
ract and  were  lost.  There  was  a  fatal 
defect  in  the  system.  It  was  an  arch 
without  a  key -stone.  One  of  the  loose 
bricks  gone,  and  the  whole  pile  fell. 
Now  we  have  a  system  so  compact  that 
it  can  stand  any  conceivable  shock. 
The  fire  test  of  last  October  was 
severer  than  any  "  hard  times."  We 
need  have  no  fears  hereafter  that  our 
financial  system  will  come  crashing 
down  upon  us.  Whatever  else  may 
befall,  we  may  dismiss  all  apprehen- 
sion of  such  a  disaster.  The  real  se- 
cret of  the  solvency  of  our  banks  is 


COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 


67 


that  our  monetary  interests  are  so  indis- 
solubly  interlinked,  that  a  common 
necessity  was  bound  to  hold  them  up. 

Of  the  public  buildings  destroyed, 
one  of  the  most  important  was  the 
Water  Works,  which  was  one  of  the 
first  points  on  the  North  Side  reached 
by  the  fire.  The  wind  was  in  exactly 
the  right  direction  to  cover  the  roof  of 
that  structure  with  cinders.  The  mas- 
sive walls  were  fire  -  proof,  but  the  roof 
was  of  "  composition,"  tar,  gravel,  and 
paper.  The  direct  damage  sustained 
was  $200,000 ;  but  the  indirect  was 
vast  beyond  computation.  It  cut  off 
our  water  supply,  and  thus  rendered 
our  fire  department  useless.  Some 
buildings  in  the  heart  of  business 
would  otherwise  have  been  saved.  The 
terrible  anxiety  of  the  fire  week  was 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  usual 
means  for  stopping  a  conflagration 
were  powerless.  Not  making  the  build- 
ing which  sheltered  the  Water  Works' 
engines  absolutely  fire -proof,  was  a 
monstrous  blunder. 

The  city  lost  no  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  and  three  -  fourths 
miles  of  sidewalk,  to  replace  which 
would  cost  at  least  $1,000,000.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  a  fire -proof  material 
will  be  used  in  the  future.  The  Nicolson 
pavement  suffered  but  slight  damage. 

The  total  loss  to  our  Public  School 
department  amounts  to  $502,600,  of 
which  $297,800  represents  the  value  of 
reference  books,  libraries,  etc.,  on  which 
there  was  no  insurance.  Of  the  build- 
ings destroyed,  two,  the  Kinzie  and 
Jones,  were  very  old  and  dilapitated, 
and  would  soon  have  been  torn  down 
to  give  place  to  better  structures.  The 
following  is  the  list : 


SCHOOLS.  LOCATION. 

Jones,  .     Cor.  Harrison  and  Clark, 

Kinzie,  .  Cor.  Ohio  and  La  Salle,    . 

Franklin,  Cor.  Division  and  Sedgwick, 

Ogden,  .  Pearson  near  Dearborn. 

Pearson,  .     Cor.  Pearson  and  Market. 

Elm,       .  Cor.  Elm  and  North  State,  . 


La  Salle,    .     Cor.  La  Salle  and  North  Ave. 
N.  Branch,    Vedder,  near  Halsted   . 

Value  of  buildings. 
Value  of  libraries,  etc.,     .         .      • 

Total,     . 


VALUE. 
$  9,OOO 
16,800 
73.OOO 
35.OOO 
12,250 
12,750 
,   23,000 
23,000 

$204,800 
297,800 

$502,600 


The  Fire  Engine  and  Police  Station 
losses  figure  up  $196,350.  There  were 
seven  bridges  burnt.  Instead  of  rebuild- 
ing them,  there  should  be  tunnels  ex- 
cavated in  some  cases  if  not  in  all.  In 
a  thrbnged  city,  a  swing -bridge  is  an 
insufferable  nuisance,  and  should  give 
place  as  soon  as  possible  to  a  tunnel. 

By  far  the  greatest  loss  of  the  city 
and  county  was  the  Court  House. 
That  massive  piece  of  botch -work, 
with  its  two  wings,  was  a  sham ;  and 
could  its  contents  only  have  been 
saved,  the  loss  of  the  building  itself 
would  not  have  been  deplored.  It  will 
it  is  thought  take  about  $2,000,000  to 
erect  such  a  structure  as  the  needs  of 
the  county  and  city  require.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  at  its  Fire  Session,  con- 
vened by  the  Governor  immediately 
after  5  the  conflagration,  assumed  the 
debt  contracted  by  Chicago  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal,  amounting  to  nearly  three  mill- 
ions of  dollars  —  it  being  stipulated 
that  the  money  should  go  to  rebuild 
the  Court  House  and  other  public 
structures.  To  this  proposition  there 
was  no  hostility  whatever  in  the  Legis- 
lature or  the  press  of  the  State. 

As  even  the  Court  House  vaults  were 
a  sham,  the  incalculably  valuable  re- 
cords of  the  city  and  county  were  de- 
stroyed. The  loss  of  those  archives 
was  a  disaster  which  no  human  intel- 
lect can  so  much  as  apprehend,  not  to 
say  comprehend.  There  were  the 
official  records  of  all  the  real  estate 
transfers  in  Cook  County ;  of  all  the 
mortgages  on  real  and  personal  prop 
erty ;  the  archives  of  all  the  courts, 
including  the  papers  on  unfinished 
probate  business;  the  official  minutes 
of  the  proceedings  and  final  actions 
of  all  county  and  city  legislation.  In 
fine,  everything  of  a  public  document- 
ary character  which  was  in  the  keep- 
ing of  the  city  or  the  county,  went  to 
feed  the  ravenous  flames. 

The  greatest  immediate  evil  is  the 
delay  in  settling  probate  business,  and 
the  utter  impossibility  of  proving  many- 
valid  claims  in  favor  of  heirs.  The 


68 


COAfMERClAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 


irretrievable  loss  to  widows  and  orphans 
will  be  millions.  In  ordinary  judicial 
proceedings,  old  cases  will,  if  renewed 
at  all,  have  to  be  conducted  largely 
upon  equity  principles  and  in  accord- 
ance with  chancery  practice.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  fully  one -half  the  cases  on 
the  several  dockets  at  the  time  of  the 


fire  will  never  be  renewed.  Litigation 
will  gradually  extricate  itself  from  the 
present  dilemma;  and  it  is  quite  likely 
that  the  average  result,  except  in  pro- 
bate business,  will  be  as  equitable  as  it 
would  have  been  had  the  records  been 
preserved.  At  least  there  is  no  general 
solicitude  on  that  score. 


THE   COURT   HOUSE. 


The  loss  of  the  official  records  of 
deeds  and  mortgages  was  appalling. 
The  great  value  of  a  city  is  its  real 
estate.  The  ground  of  the  burnt  district 
is  to-day  worth  hardly  less  than  all  the 
property  destroyed.  To  unsettle  titles 
would  be  terrible.  Indeed,  the  city 
would  not  rise  again  had  that  actually 
occurred.  But,  fortunately,  there  are 
three  complete  unofficial  abstracts  of 
records  which  were  preserved.  To  look 
up  titles  in  the  records  as  kept  by  the 
county  would  have  been  a  very  tedious 
job.  To  economise  time,  private  enter- 


prise had  made  out  abstracts  of  all 
those  official  records,  from  which  any 
one  could  in  a  short  time  find  out  the 
validity  of  any  given  title.  So  reliable 
are  those  abstracts  that  it  was  very 
rare  for  any  one  to  go  beyond  them 
in  the  investigation  of  a  real  estate 
title.  Practically,  therefore,  we  have 
left  a  complete  chain  of  evidence  to 
prove  even-  land  title  in  the  county 
which  was  unclouded  before  the  fire. 
These  books  are  the  salvation  of  Chi- 
cago. Had  they  been  destroyed,  titles 
could  not  be  substantiated  without  the 


COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 


69 


delay  of  a  chancery  trial,  and  in  the 
meanwhile  building  operations  would 
have  been  suspended  and  commerce 
would  have  sped  away  to  other  local- 
ities. As  it  is,  it  only  remains  to  pur- 
chase—  or,  if  the  owners  value  them 
too  highly,  "  condemn"  under  the 
State's  sovereign  right  of  eminent  do- 
main,—  all  those  records ;  through  a 
competent  commission  compare  them 
and  make  out  a  certified  copy,  and 
then  legalize,  or  make  official,  said  cer- 
tified copy.  In  that  way  the  loss  can 
be  retrieved  and  the  peril  of  insecure 
real  estate  titles  be  averted. 

The  Water  Works  was  one  of  the  first 
public  buildings  reached  by  the  fire,  the 
Custom  House  the  last.  The  former 
was  farthest  from  the  origin  of  the  fire, 
the  latter  nearest.  All  the  United 
States  officials  in  Chicago  had  offices 
in  that  building,  except  the  Pension 
Agent,  the  Internal  Revenue  Assessor, 
the  Register  in  Bankruptcy,  and  the 
Steamboat  Inspector.  The  third  floor 
was  wholly  given  up  to  the  judiciary. 
All  the  official  papers  of  both  the  Cir- 
cuit and  District  Courts,  and  of  the  U. 
S.  District  Attorney,  and  of  the  Mar- 
shal, were  destroyed.  Nothing  was 
taken  from  that  floor,  and  everything 
was  a  total  wreck.  Fortunately,  Judges 
Drummond  and  Blodgett  have  both 
been  in  the  habit  of  making  out  ab- 
stracts of  all  the  cases  tried  before  them, 
which  they  forwarded  to  Washington. 
These  will  be  of  great  service  in  straight- 
ening out  federal  court  business.  The 
official  papers  in  the  office  of  Judge 
Hibbard,  the  Register  in  Bankruptcy, 
wore  a  very  serious  loss.  Congress  will 
probably  pass  a  measure  for  bringing 
order  of  the  chaos  of  the  federal  judici- 
ary business  at  Chicago. 

The  second  floor  of  this  building  was 
mainly  devoted  to  impost  business. 
The  Collector  of  the  Port,  Hon.  Jas.  E. 
McLean,  had  general  charge  of  the 
whole  building,  and  besides  the  tariff 
affairs  was  custodian  of  the  federal 
funds  at  Chicago.  At  the  time  of  the 
fire  he  had  in  his  keeping  $400,000  in 
coin  and  $i  ,800,000  in  currency.  There 


were  vaults  on  the  second  floor  which 
were  supposed  to  be  absolutely  fire  - 
proof.  In  them  all  these  moneys  were 
stored.  They  also  contained  all  the 
books  and  accounts  of  the  office,  besides 
private  papers  and  memoranda  of  the 
employes  and  attaches  of  the  establish- 
ment, the  actual  value  of  which  will 
depend  largely  upon  the  honesty  of  the 
various  debtors. 

When  the  debris  was  cleared  away, 
nothing  remained  but  charred  ruins. 
The  coin  was  found  to  be  fused,  and 
had  to  be  forwarded  to  the  Philadelphia 
mint  for  re -coinage.  The  Collector  of 
Internal  Revenue  had  his  office  on  the 
same  floor.  The  actual  loss  from  the 
destruction  of  his  papers  will  be  slight, 
as  nearly  all  of  importance  had  been 
duplicated  and  the  duplicates  sent  to 
Washington.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
Assessor's  papers.  An  act  of  Congress 
will  be  necessary  to  relieve  both  col- 
lectors of  balances  standing  against 
them  on  the  books  at  Washington,  it 
being  the  practice  of  the  Treasury  De- 
partment to  charge  the  collection  of  all 
taxes,  internal  and  impost,  to  the  Col- 
lectors. The  passage  of  such  an  act 
will  hardly  meet  any  opposition,  as  the 
honesty  and  efficiency  of  both  collec- 
tion offices  are  undisputed. 

The  number  of  vessel  arrivals  at  the 
port  of  Chicago  annually  exceed  those 
of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
New  Orleans,  San  Francisco,  Mobile, 
and  Savannah  combined.  The  amount 
of  bills  of  sale,  ship  mortgages,  and 
general  evidences  of  vessel  property, 
which  were  recorded  upon  the  books  of 
this  Custom  House,  were  consequently 
immense.  Their  destruction  will  entail 
upon  the  owners  a  vast  deal  of  trouble, 
although  the  duplicates  forwarded  to 
Washington  will  be  of  incalculable  use 
in  straightening  out  these  tangles. 
There  was,  however,  the  period  of  three 
months  just  previous  to  the  fire,  the 
transactions  of  which  had  not  been  re- 
ported. 

The  first  floor  and  the  basement  of 
the  Custom  House  were  wholly  given 
up  to  the  postal  service.  As  there  is 


7o 


COMMERCIAL  AND  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 


always  a  corps  of  workmen  in  that  de- 
partment, day  and  night,  and  mail 
teams  in  stables  near  by,  if  not  on  the 
spot,  the  letters  —  of  which  there  were 
probably  no  less  than  150,000  in  the 
building — were  all  taken  out  and  carted 
to  a  place  of  safety.  It  is  due  to  the 
postal  service  to  add  that  although  the 
Postmaster,  Hon.  F.  A.  Eastman,  was 
himself  a  victim  of  the  fire,  as  well  as 
one  hundred  of  the  three  hundred  men 
in  his  employ,  he  and  they  made  the 
public  interest  supreme,  and  in  an  in- 
credibly short  space  of  tune  had  the 
machinery  of  the  mails  in  good  running 
order,  making  up  and  distributing  let- 
ters with  almost  the  usual  promptness. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  a  vast 
number  of  cases  friends  at  a  distance 
received  letters  from  Chicago  before 
they  did  the  telegram  of  the  same  date. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  Gre.  t  Fire,  the 
completeness  of  our  postal  machinery 
and  the  efficiency  of  this  branch  of  the 
service  would  not  have  been  appreci- 
ated by  the  public.  The  letter-carrier 
system  was  eminently  useful  hi  facilitat- 
ing business.  On  the  old  system  of 
box  deliver)-,  postal  business  would  have 
been  hopelessly  confused. 

We  have  said  that  the  State  will  vir- 
tually be  at  the  expense  of  rebuilding 
the  Court  House.  The  United  States 
will  of  course  erect  another  Custom 
House.  The  old  structure  was  alto- 
gether too  small  to  meet  the  demands 
of  federal  business  at  this  centre.  The 
old  site  must  be  enlarged,  and  a  build- 
ing put  up  that  shall  be  commensurate 
xvith  the  importance  of  the  city.  Every 
federal  office  should  be  under  its  roof. 
The  expense  will  be  a  very  small  item, 
as  compared  with  the  means  at  com- 
mand. It  is  expected  that  Congress 
will  early  pass  an  appropriation  for  the 
purchase  of  additional  ground  and  the 
erection  of  a  suitable  building.  The 
old  one  really  had  hardly  room  enough, 
all  told,  for  the  Post  Office  alone,  or  for 
the  Custom  House  proper.  For  mail 
distribution,  Chicago  is  second  only  to 
New  York ;  and  its  growing  importance 
as  a  port  of  entry  may  be  inferred  from 


the  fact  that  the  receipts  of  coin  duty 
during  last  September  were  three  hun- 
dred per  cent,  greater  than  they  were 
during  the  corresponding  period  of  1 870. 
There  are  two  reasons  for  this  —  the 
establishment  of  a  line  of  steamers  run- 
ning in  connection  with  ocean  steamers 
at  Montreal,  by  which  imports  come 
through  without  the  vexatious  delay 
attending  shipments  by  way  of  New 
York ;  and  the  passage  of  the  direct 
importation  act  of  July  14,  1870.  The 
fire  has  not  lessened  our  imports.  On 
the  contrary,  the  receipts  of  customs 
since  the  great  calamity  have  been 
larger  than  ever. 

At  present  the  High  School  Buildings, 
located  in  the  West  Division,  are  made 
to  take  the  place  of  the  Court  House, 
so  far  as  possible.  The  federal  offices 
are  all  located  in  the  South  Division,  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  centre  of  the  city. 
The  Custom  House  proper  is  at  Con- 
gress Hall  where  it  will  probably  remain 
until  the  erection  of  the  new  Custom 
House.  The  Wabash  Avenue  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  on  the  southern 
edge  of  the  burnt  district,  has  been 
fitted  up  for  the  Post  Office.  It  will 
doubtless  be  three  or  four  years  before 
it  will  return  to  its  old  locality. 

Chicago  has  had  enough  of  huge 
tinder  boxes.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  absolutely  fire -proof  building  struc- 
tures, and  such  without  doubt  even-  one 
of  our  new  public  buildings  will  be. 
Then  they  will  stand  the  shock  of  con- 
flagration, let  the  flames  rage  never  so 
fiercely,  and  hold  fast  their  sacred 
trusts  against  the  most  desperate  bur- 
glary of  fire. 

Hardly  had  the  rills  and  rivers  of 
charity  began  to  flood  our  city,  when 
landsharks  put  in  an  appearance,  offer- 
ing to  buy  real  estate  at  "  fire  prices." 
Dealers  also  advertised  to  sell  at  "  fire 
prices. "  The  first  class  went  away 
without  investing,  and  the  offers  of  the 
latter  class  were  mere  pretence.  After 
careful  investigation,  we  are  satisfied 
that  in  the  aggregate  there  was  very 
little  if  any  depreciation  in  the  value 


RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS. 


of  real  estate,  at  least  in  the  market 
price.  The  unclouded  faith  of  all  in 
the  early  reconstruction  of  the  burnt 
district  accounts  for  this  fact. 

While  the  aggregate  value  of  real 
estate  has  not  been  affected  by  the  fire, 
some  changes  have  already  been 
effected,  and  others  may  be  expected. 
Particular  localities  which  had  been 
rendered  specially  valuable  by  some 
fortuitous  accident  have  lost  their  ad- 
vantage. Others,  cursed  by  evil  sur- 
roundings, have  gained,  making  a 
"  stand  off."  The  most  notable  change 
of  this  kind  is  in  the  value  of  real 
estate  near  the  river.  Until  last  sum- 
mer the  river  was  so  foul  that  it  "  poi- 
soned "  the  property  within  smelling 
distance.  Changing  the  current  of  the 
stream  cleaned  it,  and  rendered  the 
banks  habitable.  But  they  were 
skirted  with  a  class  of  buildings  which 
repulsed  mercantile  houses.  The  fire, 
supplementing  the  change  in  the  cur- 
rent of  the  river,  paved  the  way  for 
the  wholesale  business  to  push  farther 
west  than  before,  taking  possession  of 
a  tract  hitherto  given  up  to  fourth  rate 
business.  On  the  South  Side,  this  will 
be  the  marked  real  estate  peculiarity  of 


the  fire,  viewed  from  the  present  stand  - 
point. 

To  the  superficial  observer,  it  would 
seem  that  the  value  of  the  North  Di- 
vision real  estate  must  have  been  de- 
preciated.     The  improvements  which 
made  some  of  those  streets  the   pride 
and    beauty   of   our  city  have    been 
swept  away ;    but  with   the  lake   and 
Lincoln  Park,  it  has  its  chief  attractions 
left.     It  is  secluded  from  the  heart  of 
business,  yet  not  far  off.     It  has  now 
lost  forever  the  old  rookeries  and  riff- 
raff population   near  the  river  which 
were  formerly  such  serious  drawbacks 
upon  the  North   Division.     Then,  too, 
those  who  had  elegant  grounds  before 
the   fire   were    interested    in    keeping 
down  the  value  of  real  estate  so  as  to 
escape  heavy  taxation.    A  man  whose 
homestead  occupied  a  whole  block  was 
necessarily  a  "  bear  "  in   the  market. 
Now  that  part  of  the  city  will  be  built 
up    as    becomes     residence     property 
within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  the  heart 
of  the  city,  and  the  "  bears "  will  all 
turn  "  bulls."    This  change  will  be  in- 
evitable.    These  are  the  only  changes 
in   the  value  of   Chicago  real  estate 
which  have  developed  themselves. 

Frank  Gilbert. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS. 


THE  fire  was  impartial  in  its  de- 
structiveness.  Breweries  and 
grain-elevators,  saloons  and  banks,  in- 
surance offices  and  churches,  all  dis- 
appeared before  it.  Greenbacks  passed 
beyond  redemption,  "fire -proof" 
safes  melted,  stones  were  shattered. 
The  cold  and  passionless  page  is  a 
poor  medium  to  give  any  adequate 
conception  of  its  power. 

But  some  things  proved  indestructi- 
ble. Even  the  wooden  streets,  so 
called,  were  more  than  equal  to  their 
purpose.  The  imaginations  of  persons 
at  a  distance  pictured  them  as  canals 


of  flame,  into  which  the  terrified  in- 
habitants leaped  from  the  falling 
buildings  ;  but  art  in  their  composition 
seems  to  have  imitated  nature,  which 
makes  her  most  substantial  structures 
out  of  a  happy  combination  of  frail 
materials.  The  gravel  and  tar  and 
wood  together  bade  defiance  to  the 
heat.  Had  the  sidewalks  been  made 
of  the  same  material,  and  the  houses, 
the  sirocco  which  preceded  the  fire 
would  have  been  soon  forgotten. 

Another  imperishable  thing  was  the 
soul  of  the  city ;  not  the  absurdly 
vaunted  energy  of  the  people,  but  that 


RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS. 


combination  of  material  and  yet  invisi- 
ble forces  which  make  Chicago  a   ne- 
cessity.    In   the  councils   of  eternity, 
the  rivers,  lakes,  and  prairies,  when 
they  assumed  their  proportions  and  re- 
lations, determined  here  the  site  of  a 
large  city.     Chicago  is  where  the  water 
and  land  -  carriages  meet ;  in  the  heart 
of  a   country  teeming  with   abundant 
products  of  air,  earth,  and  soil,  where 
streams  of  wealth  must  converge  and 
again  distribute  themselves.      It  is  a 
predestination  that  so  long  as  that  sec- 
tion of  country  called  the   Northwest 
has  life,  here  must  be  its  heart.   There 
must  be  here  a  great  concourse  of  hu- 
man beings ;  and  so  long  as  the  morals 
and  habits  of  men  and  women  are  as 
now,  this  city  will  have  its  hovels  and 
temples,  its  roughs   and  saints,  and  all 
the  varieties  which  poverty  and  luxury 
and  ignorance   and   both   unbalanced 
and  harmonious  culture    can  produce. 
Vanity  has  claimed  that  it  was  due  to 
the    remarkable     and    almost    preter- 
natural sagacity   and   enterprise  of  a 
few  men  that  Chicago  grew  so  rapidly 
and    awakened    the    astonishment  of 
the  world.     "Scratch  a  Russian,   and 
you  find   a    Cossack."       Unstrip   the 
cockney  Chicagoan,  and  you  find  an 
average  white  man  (with  few  excep- 
tions) parallelled  by  the  great  mass  of 
human  beings  who  pride   themselves 
rather  on  their  circumstances  than  on 
their  merit.     Chicago  was  originally  a 
wet    prairie,  skirted   on   one  side  by 
dunes  and  gravel  by  the  lake  shore. 
There  is  certainly  nothing  in  the  at- 
mosphere,   pure    though    it    be,   from 
the  lake  and  prairie,  that  should  make 
its  inhabitants  superior  to  their  neigh- 
bors.   We   do  not  hear  that  the  few 
thousands  who  were  driven  away  by 
the  fire  have  started  anywhere  any  new 
Chicagos.     The   thousands  who  have 
come  in  are  fully  equal  to  those  who 
ran  away.  It  may  be  seriously  doubted 
whether,    if    all    the    three     hundred 
thousand,  not  excepting  its  wonderful 
banking  men,    should    betake   them- 
selves to  Dogtown  or  Brush  Four  Cor- 
ners, they  would  there  reproduce  the 


Garden  City.  They  would  soon  scatter 
or  starve.  But  if  ten  thousand  young 
men  and  women  could  be  selected  by 
chance,  out  of  the  Caucasian  or  even 
the  Mongolian  race,  and  placed  alone 
on  the  blackened  bones  of  this  Chicago, 
where  the  streets  now  project  upward 
from  the  ground,  like  a  huge  skeleton, 
along  the  tri- river  whose  sluggish  cur- 
rent still  obeys  the  will  of  its  late  mas- 
ters and  flows  inward  rather  than  out- 
ward,— it  would  not  be  many  days 
before  the  streams  of  grain  and  timber 
and  coal  and  iron  uniting  there,  on 
this  heaven -made  convergence  of 
highways,  would  stimulate  these 
strangers  to  seize  their  opportunity 
and  exact  the  ordinary  toll,  put  forth 
the  required  labor,  and  rise  into  wealth 
and  power.  Snow  is  found  on  the  top 
of  the  mountain,  flowers  at  its  base, 
pearls  in  the  oysters,  and  whales  in 
the  ocean  ;  and  cities,  where  alone  so 
long  as  the  world  retains  its  present 
configuration  they  can  be,  and  while 
the  world  abounds  in  men  they  must 
be,  in  the  natural  centres  of  industry 
and  trade.  To  destroy  a  Babylon,  the 
very  people  of  the  nation  must  perish. 
Art  simply  assists  nature,  and  acts 
obediently  to  her  laws. 

In    accordance    with    this    theory, 
already  buildings   are  arising  on    the 
burnt  district  by  the  thousand  and  by 
the  mile,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that, 
profiting  by  experience,  there  will  be  a 
better  distribution  and  classification  of 
the  various  kinds  of  industry  than  be- 
fore.    Painful  as  was  the  disaster,  pro- 
ducing  a   shock    both    physical    and 
mental  that  will  prove  fatal  to  many 
individuals,  and  beautiful  as  Chicago 
was,    it   is    probable    that   five    years 
hence  the  city  will  be,  both  as  a  place 
of    residence    and    business,    stronger 
and  more  pleasant  than  it  would  have 
been  had  the  fire  not  occurred.     And 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  public  opinion 
of  the  city  will  exhibit  in  a  larger  de- 
gree  the   modesty    that    accompanies 
merit,    and   will   waste    no   energy   in 
boasting  and  no  passion  in  useless  sen- 
sitiveness to  external  criticism. 


RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS. 


73 


There  is  a  large  class  of  people  in 
Chicago  who  are  far  more  anxious  about 
its  intellectual  and  moral  prospects  than 
about  its  population  or  material  re- 
sources. Great  masses  of  humanity 
are  not  necessarily  of  much  value  to 
themselves  or  to  the  world.  Babylon 
was  not  Athens ;  Constantinople  is  not 
Berlin.  The  cockneyisin  which  leads 
an  insignificant  cipher  of  humanity  to 
estimate  his  own  value  according  to  the 
long  row  of  figures  which  the  census  of 
the  state  or  nation  employs  where  he 
lives,  and  in  which  he  counts  only  one, 
is  contemptible  though  common.  A 
true  man  is  of  as  much  worth  in  a 
country  village  as  in  London,  in  Rhode 
Island  as  in  New  York,  in  Switzerland  as 
in  China.  There  have  been  cities  which 
dying  have  left  no  sign,  and  whose  in- 
fluence when  living  was  only  that  of 
dead  weight.  There  have  been  country 
hamlets,  single  families,  nay,  individual 
men,  worth  more  than  a  city  full  of  trash. 
Intellectual  and  moral  vitality,  at  least 
in  the  opinion  of  some,  is  of  chief  value. 
Chicago  ought  to  be  to  the  great  North- 
west what  Boston  is  to  New  England 
—  a  centre  and  fountain  of  intellectual 
and  moral  power.  In  its  short  history, 
this  city  has  had  a  fair  proportion  of 
men  and  women  who  have  believed 
this  doctrine  and  shown  their  faith  by 
their  works.  Many  of  their  enterprises 
have  been  arrested  and  destroyed  by 
the  fire. 

The  great  rapidity  with  which  the 
population  here  has  been  gathered,  has 
rendered  it  impossible  to  provide  means 
for  the  mind  and  heart  commensurate 
with  the  demand,  or  equal  to  older 
cities  of  the  same  size.  The  public 
schools,  admirable  in  their  plan  and 
actual  character,  yet  left  about  a  third 
of  the  children  and  youth  without  the 
means  of  public  instruction.  An  incon- 
siderable proportion  of  the  young  men 
could  withstand  the  temptations  of  the 
city  and  devote  themselves  to  liberal 
study.  Intemperance  and  vice  de- 
stroyed thousands  annually.  The  grad- 
uates of  the  high  school  were  few  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  same  age  sent 


to  houses  of  correction  and  the  state 
prison.  No  city  should  boast  of  its 
schools  so  long  as  a  single  child  is  de- 
prived of  their  privileges  for  want  of 
ample  public  provision.  Five  large 
public  school  houses  were  destroyed. 
As  dwellings  arise  —  no  matter  what 
may  be  the  expense  —  school  houses 
should  be  built  at  once,  adequate  to 
accommodate  all  the  children.  Let 
them,  if  need  be,  be  less  costly,  and  let 
the  experiment  be  tried,  if  necessary, 
of  having  two  schools  accommodated 
in  the  same  room  at  different  hours  of 
the  day ;  but  let  no  children  be  doomed 
to  ignorance  for  want  of  free  tuition. 
The  various  private  schools  that  per- 
ished will  undoubtedly  be  speedily  re- 
established, as  the  motives  that  created 
them  abide,  and  will  easily  find  means 
of  organization. 

The  museums,  galleries  of  art,  and 
libraries,  must  start  again  from  the 
bottom.  They  had  really  produced 
but  little  effect  on  the  public  mind. 
Churches  and  mission  schools  abounded 
in  the  burnt  district,  though  not  in  so 
large  numbers  as  in  the  older  cities. 
The  great  London  fire  two  hundred 
years  ago,  though  spreading  over  less 
than  a  fourth  as  large  a  space,  and 
destroying  a  smaller  number  of  dwelling- 
houses,  yet  consumed  about  three  times 
as  many  church  edifices  as  the  Chicago 
fire. 

It  would  be  uncharitable  to  under- 
value what  the  advocates  of  education, 
sobriety  and  religion  have  done  and  are 
doing  in  Chicago.  This  would  betray 
a  cynicism  based  on  ignorance  or  prej- 
udice. The  deficiencies  result  from  the 
rapidity  of  its  growth.  In  the  rank 
crop  which  springs  up  in  a  single  sea- 
son, there  is  always  a  predominance  of 
weeds.  Careful  and  persevering  culture 
alone  matures  the  most  valuable 
growths.  Magnificent  wholesale  pal- 
aces, with  their  stone  and  iron  fronts, 
spring  out  of  the  percentage  of  profits 
which  the  streams  of  wealth  that  roll 
through  the  city  leave  behind.  They 
are  not  extraordinary  monuments  of 
the  sagacity  or  courage  of  their  builders, 


74 


RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS. 


any  more  than  the  tall  corn  of  our 
prairies  is  an  indication  of  extraordi- 
nary science  and  skill  in  our  farmers. 
Why  should  not  our  capitalists  build 
six  or  eight  story  stores  and  hotels  of 
rock  and  iron  ?  They  are  able,  and 
obtain  their  reward  in  kind.  But  to 
found  schools  and  museums  and  libra- 
ries and  churches,  and  to  use  them 
according  to  the  ideal  of  such  institu- 
tions, implies  patient  thought  and  intel- 
lectual and  moral  culture,  not  necessa- 
rily engendered  by  a  scramble  for 
wealth  or  an  ostentatious  display  of  it. 
The  Pilgrims  built  their  meeting -bouse 
with  their  first  dwellings.  Chicago,  if 
it  has  their  spirit,  while  stores,  hotels, 
breweries  and  saloons  again  arise,  will 
give  libraries,  museums,  schools  and 
churches  also  a  better  resurrection. 
The  aggregate  of  the  Roman  Catholic 


losses  in  churches  and  schools  seems 
to  have  been  a  little  short  of  $i  ,500,000 ; 
and  no  mention  is  made  of  any  insur- 
ance. The  aggregate  actual  losses  of 
the  various  Protestant  denominations, 
after  deducting  all  the  insurance  which 
will  be  received,  is  about  $1,500,000. 
The  various  denominations  suffered  not 
according  to  their  relative  strength  in 
Chicago,  but  according  to  the  property 
which  they  happened  to  have  in  the 
compact  business  part  of  the  city  and 
on  the  North  Side.  The  Catholics  lost 
their  cathedral,  several  convents,  and 
many  of  their  best  churches  and  schools. 
The  Methodists  also  lost  very  heavily 
in  their  branch  Book  Concern,  their 
Church  Block  —  which  was  a  business 
house  embracing  a  free  church  building 
—  and  the  property  of  Garrett  Biblical 
Institute,  and  churches,  in  all  amount- 


UN1TY   AND   NEW    ENGLAND  CHURCHES. 


INSTITUTIONS  OF  ART,  SCIENCE,  LITERATURE. 


75 


ing  to  not  much  less  than  half  a  million 
dollars.  The  Presbyterians  also  lost 
heavily  in  several  elegant  churches 
worth  at  least  $350,000.  The  Episco- 
palians lost  about  $350,000,  the  Unita- 
rians $175,000,  and  the  Universalists 
about  $80,000.  The  Baptists,  fortu- 
nately, with  their  valuable  University 
property  and  their  best  churches, 
escaped  the  fire,  though  their  loss  was 
not  less  than  $100,000.  Others  swell 
the  aggregate  to  the  sum  above  men- 
tioned. Three  millions  of  dollars  de- 
voted to  religious  uses  swept  out  of 
existence  in  twenty -four  hours!  And 
this,  too,  contributed  voluntarily  by 
men  and  women  now  for  the  most  part 
impoverished !  Many  of  them  now 
doubt  whether  they  will  ever  again  be 
able  to  make  another  donation  for  such 
a  purpose. 

Is  not  the  church  a  solidarity  ?  Is  it 
not  the  mother  of  democracy  and  self 
government  ?  Has  not  Christianity 
produced  the  marvellous  sympathy  and 
aid  which  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  before  the  flames  had  completed 


their  work,  and  continue  to  come  in  a 
steady  stream  ?  If  not,  it  is  somewhat 
marvellous  that  this  aid  comes  only 
from  Christendom,  and  that  it  makes 
such  a  liberal  use  of  the  pulpit  and 
Christian  press. 

But  shall  Christians  aid  Chicago  and 
not  directly  help  the  brotherhood  to 
maintain  the  same  cause  which  inspires 
them  with  charity  ?  This  might  be 
deemed  amiable ;  it  could  scarcely  be 
called  wise. 

But  we  have  no  fear  for  the  future  of 
the  schools  and  churches  of  Chicago. 
Even  if  left  to  themselves,  with  no  aid 
from  abroad,  the  half  million  of  people 
that  will  soon  fill  these  streets  and  dwell 
in  this  reconstructed  metropolis  will  see 
to  it  that  ample  provision  is  made  for 
intellectual  and  religious  culture ;  but 
it  will  be  accomplished  slowly  and  with 
singular  difficulties,  and  not  without 
much  serious  loss,  unless  the  commu- 
nity of  Christendom  proves  in  this 
emergency  something  more  than  an 
abstract  theory  or  a  vapid  sentimental- 
ism.  E.  O.  Haven. 


INSTITUTIONS  OF  ART,  SCIENCE,  LITERATURE. 


THE  loss  to  Chicago  in  places  of 
amusement,  libraries,  and  art- 
galleries,  both  public  and  private,  will 
be  realized  much  more  keenly  in  the 
future  than  at  present.  The  public 
mind  is  just  now  too  closely  occupied 
with  the  computation  and  restoration 
of  the  material  values  of  trade  and 
commerce,  to  give  much  thought  to 
aesthetic  losses.  These  once  regulated, 
the  loss  of  the  latter  will  make  itself 
apparent.  To  make  any  computation 
of  the  number  of  books,  pictures, 
statues,  and  articles  of  costly  ornament 
destroyed,  is  simply  impossible.  It  could 
only  be  accomplished  by  personal  re- 
ports from  every  one  of  the  thousands 
of  sufferers  who  were  driven  from  their 
homes  in  the  South  and  North  Divi- 
sions. An  approximate  idea,  however, 


may  be  formed,  when  it  is  considered 
that  nearly  30,000  houses  were  burned, 
and  that  many  of  them,  on  the  ave- 
nues of  the  South  Division  and  on  the 
lake  front  of  the  North  Division,  were 
among  the  most  elegant  in  the  city  and 
occupied  by  citizens  whose  wealth  and 
culture  had  combined  in  the  accumula- 
tion of  rare  treasures  of  literature  and 
art 

The  chief  places  of  amusement  de- 
stroyed in  the  city  were  Crosby's  Opera 
House,  Hooley's  Opera  House,  Mc- 
Vicker's  Theatre,  the  Dearborn  Thea- 
tre, and  Wood's  Museum.  The  last 
four  had  just  been  re-fitted  and  re-orna- 
mented, and  opened  for  the  regular  fall 
season ;  while  Crosby's  Opera  House 
was  to  have  been  opened  on  Monday 
evening,  October  Qth,  the  second  night 


INSTITUTIONS  OF  ART,  SCIENCE,  LITERATURE. 


of  the  fire,  by  the  well-known  Theo- 
dore Thomas'  Orchestral  Combination. 
During  the  winter  of  1870,  Mr.  Crosby 
had  hesitated  for  some  time  whether  to 
continue  in  the  amusement  business, 
and  had  even  employed  his  architect 
to  draw  plans  for  changing  the  audito- 
rium into  commercial  offices.  The  per- 
suasion of  friends,  however,  and  the 
brilliant  operatic  and  otherwise  musical 
prospects  for  the  season  of  1871 -'72, 
induced  him  to  abandon  the  idea  of 
change.  Early  in  the  summer  the 
house  was  closed  and  the  work  of 
adornment  commenced.  Eighty  thou- 
sand dollars  were  expended  in  seating, 
upholstery,  frescoing,  painting,  and 
gilding,  in  luxurious  carpets,  superb 
bronzes,  and  costly  mirrors.  It  was 
finished  on  Saturday,  October  7th  ;  and 
when,  on  Sunday  evening,  October 
8th  —  only  an  hour  or  two  before  the 
fire  commenced — the  house  was  lit  up 
that  its  effect  might  be  seen  under  gas- 
light, not  one  of  the  few  who  were 
present  but  pronounced  it  to  be  the 
most  gorgeous  auditorium  in  America. 
A  few  hours  after,  when  Theodore 
Thomas  and  his  Orchestra  arrived,  a 
pile  of  smoking  bricks,  stones,  and  iron, 
strewn  in  wild  confusion,  was  all  that 
was  left  of  this  beautiful  temple  of  art. 
It  was  formally  dedicated  to  art  in  April, 
1865  ;  and  during  the  six  years  of  its 
existence  had  been  the  locus  in  quo  of 
some  of  the  most  memorable  seasons 
of  English,  French,  German,  and 
Italian  opera,  Chicago  ever  enjoyed. 
It  were  useless  now  to  consider  what 
we  should  have  enjoyed  in  that  brill- 
iant auditorium,  the  nights  of  Nilsson 
and  Parepa  and  Thomas  and  the  long 
array  of  concerts  during  the  coming 
winter ;  but  the  memories  of  the  past 
will  always  be  pleasant. 

McVicker's  Theatre  had  also  been 
not  only  ornamented  anew,  but  com- 
pletely remodelled.  Nothing  remained 
of  the  old  theatre  but  the  outside  walls, 
and  these  were  raised  an  additional 
story  by  means  of  a  lofty  Mansard 
roof.  The  entire  interior  of  the  thea- 
tre was  removed,  and  a  new  one  sub- 


stituted upon  an  entirely  different  mo- 
del. There  are  other  theatres  in  the 
country  more  brilliant,  but  in  point  of 
ventilation,  acoustics,  sight,  and  gen- 
eral convenience,  and  especially  in  the 
mechanical  workings  of  the  stage,  it 
was  superior  to  all.  It  had  been  in 
operation  but  a  few  weeks  when  the 
fire  occurred,  having  opened  to  "  stock 
business"  in  the  most  successful  man- 
ner. Mr.  Jefferson  (Rip  Van  Winkle) 
was  to  have  commenced  a  season  on 
October  Qth,  and,  like  Mr.  Thomas, 
arrived  here  just  in  time  to  witness  the 
destruction  of  the  theatre. 

Hooley's  Opera  House,  as  our  read- 
ers will  remember,  was  constructed  by 
remodelling  the  old  Bryan  Hall,  which, 
prior  to  the  erection  of  Fanvell  Hall, 
and  after  Metropolitan  Hall  had  gone 
into  disuse,  was  the  locale  of  nearly  all 
the  concerts  in  the  city  —  notably  those 
of  the  Philharmonic  Society,  which  for 
many  years  were  the  fashionable  rage. 
The  building  was  in  no  respect  an 
opera  house,  although,  like  many  others 
in  the  country,  it  had  been  dignified 
with  this  high-sounding  name.  Mr. 
Hooley,  a  gentleman  of  taste,  and  great 
wealth,  much  of  which  had  been  ac- 
quired in  the  business  of  Ethiopian 
minstrelsy,  purchased  the  Bryan  Hall 
property  and  converted  it  into  a  thea- 
tre, which,  during  the  first  year  of  its 
existence,  was  devoted  to  burnt -cork 
minstrelsy.  Chicago,  however,  could 
not  support  two  places  of  this  kind ; 
and  during  the  summer,  the  house  was 
refitted,  the  stage  enlarged  and  thor- 
oughly equipped  with  scenic  and  me- 
chanical appliances,  and  in  September 
it  was  regularly  opened  as  a  comedy 
theatre,  under  the  management  of  Mr. 
Frank  Aiken,  who,  a  month  or  two 
later,  associated  with  himself  Mr. 
Frank  Lawlor,  and  leased  the  building 
for  five  years.  It  had  been  in  opera- 
tion but  a  few  weeks  when  the  fire 
swept  it  away. 

Unlike  Hooley's  Opera  House,  the 
Dearborn  Theatre  first  opened  as  a 
dramatic  house,  under  the  management 
of  Mr.  Frank  Aiken,  who  after  a  few 


INSTITUTIONS  OF  ART,  SCIENCE,  LITERATURE. 


77 


months  took  the  management  of 
Wood's  Museum.  The  Dearborn  then 
changed  colors,  and  was,  up  to  the 
time  of  its  destruction,  known  as  the 
home  of  the  Dearborn  Minstrels, 
under  the  management  of  Messrs. 
Brant  &  Van  Fleet.  It  was  the  most 
elegant  minstrel  hall  in  the  United 
States,  and  possessed  what  none  other 
can  boast  —  a  thoroughly  appointed 
theatrical  stage,  capable  of  bringing 
out  the  most  elaborate  scenic  spectacles. 

Wood's  Museum  —  which  combined 
the  attractions  of  a  theatrical  stage  and 
curiosity  department  —  was  one  of  the 
old  established  institutions  of  the  city. 
During  its  long  existence,  it  had  met 
with  many  vicissitudes,  and  was  rapidly 
going  from  worse  to  worse  under  differ- 
ent managers,  when  Colonel  Wood, 
who  for  many  years  had  been  associated 
with  Barnum,  and  was  a  master  of  the 
"  outs  and  ins  "  of  "  show  business," 
assumed  the  management,  and  for 
many  years  carried  it  on  prosperously. 
Two  or  three  years  since,  he  retired  to 
his  large  stock  farm  at  Adrian,  Michi- 
gan ;  and  Mr.  Aiken,  to  whom  we  have 
already  alluded,  took  the  management, 
under  a  lease  from  Judge  Fuller.  It 
did  not  succeed,  however,  under  the 
new  management,  and  Mr.  Aiken  re- 
tired. Once  more  Colonel  Wood  was 
induced  to  step  in.  He  completely 
refitted  it,  enlarged  the  Curiosity  De- 
partment, and  had  just  opened  with  an 
entirely  new  theatrical  company  under 
the  management  of  Mr.  J.  S.  Langrishe, 
when  it  was  burned.  The  Curiosity 
Department,  although  large,  possessed 
little  of  real  value.  The  paintings  were, 
without  exception,  worthless  daubs. 
The  geological  cabinet  was  small ;  also 
the  cabinet  of  shells.  The  collection 
of  birds  and  insects,  however,  which 
formerly  belonged  to  the  old  St.  Louis 
Museum,  was  a  very  choice  one  ;  and 
in  addition  to  these  the  Museum  was 
in  possession  of  the  monstrous  saurian 
unearthed  in  Alabama  some  years  ago 
by  Dr.  Koch. 

In  addition  to  these  regularly  organ- 
ized places  of  amusement,  three  public 


halls  were  burned  in  the  South  Divi- 
sion—  Farwell,  Metropolitan,  and  Cros- 
by's Music  Hall ;  and  Uhlich's  and 
North  Market  Halls,  and  the  German 
House,  in  the  North  Division.  Of 
these,  Fanvell  Hall  —  the  home  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  — 
was  the  largest  and  much  the  most 
elaborate.  Its  seating  capacity  was  for 
3,200  persons ;  and  its  adornments 
were  of  the  most  elegant  description. 
Metropolitan  Hall,  latterly  known  as 
Library  Hall,  was  an  old  structure,  and 
was  mostly  used  for  lectures  and  the 
meetings  of  the  Young  Men's  Library 
Association.  The  Music  Hall  was  on 
the  State  Street  side  of  the  Crosby 
Opera  House  property,  and  was  a  sort 
of  tender  to  that  house,  taking  the 
smaller  concerts  and  now  and  then 
billiard  and  sparring  matches,  which 
were  somewhat  undignified  for  a  full- 
blown temple  of  art.  Uhlich's  and 
North  Market  Halls  were  both  small, 
and  were  the  respective  homes  of  the 
Germania  and  Concordia  Maennerchors, 
before  these  two  organizations  consoli- 
dated. The  German  House  was  known 
to  but  few  Americans,  but  to  the  Ger- 
mans it  was  specially  dear  as  the  home 
of  the  German  drama.  We  had  almost 
forgotten  to  mention  the  Turner  Hall, 
the  home  of  the  North  Side  Turn- 
Vereins,  and  on  Sabbath  evenings 
devoted  to  Gambrinus  and  Polyhymnia 
in  about  equal  parts. 

To  replace  the  opera  houses,  theatres, 
and  halls,  as  they  were  before  the  fire, 
would  probably  involve  an  outlay  of 
between  two  and  three  million  dollars. 
Our  managers,  not  a  whit  discouraged 
by  their  severe  losses,  are  already  pre- 
paring to  build  again.  Mr.  Crosby  has 
decided  to  build  an  opera  house  again 
on  the  old  site.  Mr.  Hooley  will  re- 
build his  theatre  on  Clark  Street,  com- 
mencing in  the  spring ;  and  has  also 
leased  the  Hadduck  property  on  the 
northeast  corner  of  Monroe  Street  and 
Wabash  Avenue,  where  he  will  erect  a 
grand  opera  house  during  another  year. 
Mr.  McVicker  has  also  decided  to  re- 
build his  theatre  on  the  old  site.  Col- 


INSTITUTIONS  OF  ART,  SCIENCE,  LITERATURE. 


onel  Wood  has  not  yet  decided  upon 
anything  definite.  Messrs.  Brant  and 
Van  Fleet  will  restore  the  Dearborn 
Theatre,  although  the  site  is  not  yet 
determined  upon.  As  matters  look  at 
present,  we  shall  have  to  skip  one  win- 
ter of  amusements,  contenting  our- 
selves with  our  whist -packs  and  home 
pianos  and  social  gatherings,  and  re- 
sume in  the  old  places,  in  the  winter 
of  1 87 2 -'7 3,  with  an  appetite  for 
amusements  all  the  sharper  for  the 
long  abstinence. 


The  principal  public  galleries  of 
paintings  were  three  in  number,  viz., 
the  Opera  House,  Academy  of  Design, 
and  Historical  Society's  collections. 
The  paintings  in  the  Opera  House 
Gallery  had  remained  without  any  im- 
portant change  as  they  were  at  the  last 
annual  reception  in  the  winter  of  1870. 
The  most  noted  picture  in  the  Gallery 
was  Bierstadt's  "  Yo  Semite  Valley," 
the  personal  property  of  Mr.  Albert 
Crosby,  which  had  been  in  the  Gallery 
many  years  and  had  become  an  old 


THE  TRIBUNE   BUILDING. 


familiar  friend  to  every  lover  of  art  in 
the  city.  Nearly  every  picture  in  this 
collection  was  saved,  through  the  ener- 
gy of  the  Superintendent,  Mr.  Aitken  ; 
and  they  are  now  in  Boston  on  exhibi- 
tion as  "  relics "  of  the  fire.  The 
managers  of  the  Academy  of  Design 
were  not  so  fortunate.  The  Gallery 
was  a  large  one,  containing  some  two 


hundred  and  fifty  or  three  hundred 
pictures,  nearly  all  of  which  were 
choice.  Rothermel's  large  historical 
painting  of  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg 
was  on  exhibition  at  the  time  of  the 
fire,  and  was  saved ;  also  some  pic- 
tures by  Bierstadt  and  the  Harts,  and 
a  large  family  group — painted  by  Mr. 
Pine,  the  Chicago  artist.  But  aconsid- 


INSTITUTIONS  OF  AR  T,  SCIENCE,  LITERA  TURE.        79 


arable  number  were  lost,  as  the  artists 
had  no  means  of  carrying  them  away. 
The  Academy  included  within  its 
province  not  only  the  exhibition  of 
works  of  art,  but  also  the  teaching  of 
its  principles  and  practice  ;  and  one  of 
its  schools,  the  Antique,  had  been 
most  liberally  provided,  by  the  munifi- 
cent liberality  of  Hon.  J.  Y.  Scammon, 
with  a  superb  collection  of  casts  from 
the  most  celebrated  antiques,  selected 
in  Rome,  by  Volk,  the  Sculptor.  All  of 
these  were  destroyed.  The  larger 
number  of  the  artists  of  the  city  had 
studios  in  this  building.  Two  or  three 
of  them  succeeded  in  saving  a  few 
pictures,  but  the  most  of  them  were 
involved  in  the  common  ruin.  The 
collection  at  the  rooms  of  the  Histori- 
cal Society  was  known  as  the  Healey 
Collection,  and  was  composed,  with 
the  exception  of  Couture's  masterly 
picture,  "  The  Prodigal  Son,"  of  that 
eminent  artist's  works.  It  consisted 
mainly  of  portraits  and  groups,  among 
them  "Webster  before  the  Senate  re- 
plying to  Hayne,"  "  Franklin  before 
the  Court  of  France,"  portraits  of 
Clay,  Webster,  Louis  Phillippe,  Mar- 
shal Soult,  Miss  Sneyd  the  English 
belle,  Calhoun,  and  several  portraits 
of  the  founders  and  officers  of  the 
Society. 

Of  the  private  galleries  in  the  city, 
it  is  impossible  to  speak  in  any  detail. 
Messrs.  Scammon,  Johnson,  Arnold, 
Sheldon,  McCagg,  and  others,  had 
valuable  collections  which  were  irre- 
coverably lost.  Among  other  works  of 
art  lost  by  Mr.  McCagg,  were  Powers's 
fine  Statue  of  Pocahontas  and  Healey's 
historical  picture  of  the  Hampton 
Roads  Conference. 

The  principal  scientific  institution 
of  Chicago  was  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, situated  on  the  South  Side,  and 
enclosed  in  walls  supposed  to  be  fire- 
proof. Within  were  contained  the  re- 
sults of  many  expeditions  in  distant 
seas  and  distant  lands.  The  large 
collection  of  Invertebrates,  comprised 
in  ten  thousand  alcoholic  jars,  each 


jar  containing  from  eight  to  ten  speci- 
mens, made  by  Wilkes,  Ringold,  and 
other  navigators,  originally  consigned 
to  the  custody  of  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution, but  transferred  here  for  study 
and  elucidation  by  Dr.  Stimpson  ;  his 
own  MSS.,  prepared  for  publication, 
and  illustrated  by  numerous  drawings 
and  engravings,  descriptive  of  the 
fauna  of  the  Japan  Expedition ;  the 
Cooper  collection  of  shells,  one  of  the 
best  in  the  country,  and  purchased  by 
Mr.  George  Walker ;  the  library  of 
conchology,  embracing  the  best  works 
on  that  science,  also  secured  by  the 
munificence  of  the  same  individual ; 
the  collection  of  the  game  birds  of 
America,  made  by  the  Audubon  Club, 
together  with  a  copy  of  Audubon's 
magnificently  illustrated  work  •  an  al- 
most complete  collection  of  the  mam- 
mals and  birds  of  the  continent  and 
the  most  characteristic  foreign  speci- 
mens ;  two  skeletons  of  the  mastodon, 
besides  the  crania  of  many  other  ex- 
tinct forms ;  a  cabinet  of  minerals 
peculiarly  rich  in  crystalline  specimens, 
secured  through  the  exertions  of  Mr. 
Chesbrough ;  a  magnificent  collection 
of  Mexican  antiquities,  the  gift  of  Mr. 
Scammon ;  a  large  collection  of  the 
implements  of  the  mound -builders, 
together  with  an  elaborate  MS.  by 
Colonel  Foster,  descriptive  of  the 
same ;  the  collections  of  Robert  Ken- 
nicott  in  the  Arctic  Regions,  which 
served  as  the  foundation  of  the  Mu- 
seum ;  the  botanical  collections  of  Dr. 
Scammon,  made  during  his  life -time, 
embracing  many  specimens  of  plants 
which  now  have  nearly  disappeared 
from  their  former  habitats ;  the  collec- 
tions of  Dr.  Veille  on  the  plains  and  in 
the  mountains,  embracing  years  of 
toil  and  active  exploration  ;  —  these 
are  among  the  treasures  offered  up  in 
the  great  holocaust  of  fire 

Chicago  had  no  great  public  libraries, 
as  compared  with  the  libraries  of  New 
York,  Boston,  and  other  Eastern  cities. 
The  energies  of  her  citizens,  as  in  all 
young  places,  have  been  devoted  to 


8o 


INSTITUTIONS  Or  ART,  SCIENCE,  LITERATURE. 


the  establishment  of  trade  and  com- 
merce, the  organization  and  equipment 
of  railroad  and  steamboat  lines,  and 
the  devising  of  means  to  conduct  the 
exchanges  of  the  vast  Northwest  with 
the  seaboard.  Material  growth  always 
comes  first ;  and  the  luxuries  of  litera- 
ture and  art  only  follow  after  the  accu- 
mulation of  wealth,  and  result  from 
culture,  which  in  its  turn  results  from 
the  leisure  which  wealth  gives. 

And  yet  Chicago  was  not  without 
libraries  prior  to  the  fire,  which  were 
accumulated  for  the  public  benefit. 
The  Young  Men's  Library  numbered 
20,000  volumes,  of  a  rather  hetero- 
geneous character,  and  principally  no- 
ticeable for  a  complete  set  of  the 
British  Patent -Office  Reports  —  which, 
by-the-bye,  have  proved,  notwith- 
standing their  importance  to  the 
mechanical  classes,  both  a  literary  and 
financial  elephant  of  the  most  unman- 
ageable description.  The  only  striking 
result  of  this  rather  costly  gift  from  the 
English  Government  was  the  entail  of 
a  debt,  which  hung  upon  the  Associa- 
tion like  an  incubus,  and  was  tenderly 
handed  down  from  one  administration 
to  another,  constantly  growing  with 
the  handling.  But  very  few  of  the 
books  were  saved,  and  the  salvage  is 
scattered  far  and  wide. 

The  library  of  the  Historical  Society 
was  one  of  great  historical  value,  and 
embraced  17,500  bound  volumes, 
145,000  pamphlets,  a  large  collection 
of  manuscripts,  and  several  complete 
newspaper  files.  Incidentally  we  may 
tsate  that  the  Society  also  possessed 
the  original  draft  of  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln. 
The  importance  of  this  library  cannot 
be  too  highly  estimated.  Its  volumes 
represented  the  documentary  history, 
not  only  of  Chicago,  but  also  of  the 
Northwest;  and  what  adds  to  the 
weight  of  the  disaster  is  the  fact  that 
the  largest  part  of  this  loss  is  total.  It 
will  be  next  to  impossible  to  duplicate 
any  considerable  portion  of  it.  Since 
the  fire,  the  members  of  the  Society 
have  met  and  elected  Rev.  Wra .  Barry. 


who  was  its  founder,  their  Secretary. 
His  untiring  skill  and  patient  industry 
will  undoubtedly  do  much  towards  the 
formation  of  another  library,  but  it 
must  be  from  small  beginnings.  It 
seems  to  us  that  it  would  be  eminently 
proper,  as  soon  as  the  Society  has  once 
more  secured  rooms,  to  seek  first  to 
restore  as  far  as  possible  the  history  of 
Chicago.  This  may  be  accomplished 
in  part  by  correspondence  with  similar 
institutions  in  other  States,  many  of 
which  may  have  duplicate  copies  of 
works  pertaining  to  Chicago ;  by  manu- 
script donations  from  our  older  settlers, 
covering  their  personal  reminiscences ; 
and  by  an  urgent  appeal  to  the  public 
at  large  to  donate  whatever  pamphlets, 
documents  and  books  they  may  have, 
concerned  with  our  history  as  a  city. 
Above  all,  this  one  plan  should  be  kept 
steadily  in  view  for  the  present :  viz., 
the  restoration  of  the  history  of  Chi- 
cago. To  attempt  the  history  of  the 
Northwest  or  of  the  United  States 
would  only  involve  the  members  in 
useless  expense  and  the  library  in 
chaotic  confusion.  The  fire,  by  con- 
suming a  good  deal  of  chaff,  has  given 
the  Society  a  golden  opportunity'  to 
establish  a  systematic  library  of 
reference. 

The  library  of  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences numbered  5,000  volumes,  devoted 
to  the  specialties  of  that  association. 
The  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion during  the  past  two  or  three  years 
had  accumulated  10,000  volumes, 
mostly  of  a  theological  character.  The 
Union  Catholic  Library,  although  com- 
menced quite  recently,  numbered  5,000 
volumes,  mostly  of  a  sectarian  char- 
acter. The  Franklin  Library,  which 
pertained  to  the  "  Art  preservative  of 
arts,"  was  organized  two  or  three  years 
since  by  a  printer,  and  had  already 
reached  the  handsome  number  of  3,000 
volumes,  many  of  which  were  exceed- 
ingly old  and  rare.  Cobb's  Library, 
on  Washington  Street  near  State,  was 
a  circulating  library  numbering  about 
5,000  volumes.  Placing  the  libraries 
of  smaller  associations  at  10,000  vol- 


INSTITUTIONS  OF  ART,  SCIENCE,  LITERATURE. 


81 


umes,  we  have  in  all  a  loss  of  over 
100,000  volumes  in  our  public  libraries. 

It  is  impossible  to  speak  with  any 
certainty  of  the  loss  of  private  libraries 
or  the  number  of  works  destroyed. 
Horace  White,  Esq.,  the  editor  of  the 
Chicago  Tribune,  lost  a  valuable  politi- 
cal library  ;  likewise  Hon.  I.  N.  Arnold. 
Perry  Smith,  Geo.  L.  Dunlap,  Obadiah 
Jackson,  and  numerous  other  residents 
of  the  North  Division,  lost  large  and 
valuable  miscellaneous  libraries.  E.  B. 
McCagg  lost  one  of  the  finest  philolog- 
ical libraries  in  the  United  States,  and 
J.  Y.  Scammon  one  of  the  most  exten- 
sive collections  of  Swedenborgian  works 
in  the  country.  When  we  consider  that 
there  is  not  a  house  in  the  city,  whose 
occupants  make  any  pretensions  to 
taste,  which  did  not  have  its  library, 
large  or  small,  and  not  a  hovel  so  poor 
but  that  some  book  could  be  found  in 
it,  we  can  form  some  slight  idea  of  the 
wide  -  spread  destruction  of  literature  in 
our  homes  alone.  Fifteen  or  twenty 
clergymen  were  burned  out,  and  their 
libraries  in  most  cases  were  a  total  loss. 
The  sanitary  department  has  a  list  of 
nearly  two  hundred  physicians  who 
were  burned  out.  Many,  if  not  most, 
of  these,  lost  their  offices,  instruments, 
and  books ;  and  Judge  J.  M.  Wilson 
reckons  the  number  of  lawyers  whose 
libraries  were  burned,  at  five  hundred. 
It  is  probably  a  fair  estimate  to  set  the 
loss  of  theological,  medical  and  law 
libraries  alone  at  half  a  million  dollars ; 
while  the  accumulations  in  the  book- 
stores would  swell  this  amount  into  the 
millions. 

It  may  be  considered  absurd  to  at- 
tempt to  form  any  estimate  of  the  num- 
ber of  books  destroyed  by  the  fire,  but 
estimating  moderately  we  should  be  in- 
clined to  think  that  it  would  reach  be- 
tween two  and  three  millions  —  a  lite- 
rary holocaust  compared  with  which 
the  destruction  of  the  Alexandrian 
and  Strasburg  libraries  seems  insignifi- 
cant. 

Readers  of  THE  LAKESIDE  will  hardly 
need  to  be  reminded  of  the  number  or 
the  character  of  the  great  bookstores 
6 


of  Chicago.  The  English  press,  in 
commenting  upon  the  buildings,  inva- 
riably speak  of  the  stores  of  Booksell- 
ers' Row,  on  State  Street,  as  the  finest 
in  the  world.  In  convenience  of  ar- 
rangement, elegance  of  finish,  and  va- 
riety of  stock,  they  were  unrivalled. 
Messrs.  S.  C.  Griggs  &  Co.,  in  addition 
to  a  full  stock  of  the  books  of  the  day 
and  educational  works,  had  given  much 
attention  to  books  of  a  higher  class ; 
and  their  stock  included  many  of  the 
richly  illustrated  foreign  works.  Their 
loss  in  stock  and  fixtures  was  about 
$225,000;  of  which  about  one-half  is 
insured.  The  Western  News  Company 
dealt  largely  in  newspapers  and  period- 
icals, and  yet  always  kept  on  hand  a 
large  stock  of  the  current  books  of  the 
market.  Their  loss  on  stock  was  about 
$200,000,  on  which  there  is  an  insurance 
of  $160,000.  W.  B.  Keen,  Cooke  & 
Co.,  in  addition  to  their  large  stock  of 
books,  always  kept  a  full  line  of  station- 
ery. Their  loss  was  about  $175,000; 
insured  for  $130,000.  Cobb,  Andrews 
&  Co.  lost  $80,000,  insurance  $66,000 ; 
Woodworth,  Ainsworth  &  Co.,  $8,000, 
insurance  $6,000 ;  the  agency  of  A.  S. 
Barnes  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  $40,000, 
insurance  $39,000;  Hadley  Brothers, 
$75,000,  insurance  in  full;  and  Ivison, 
Blakeman,  Taylor  &  Co.,  $15,000, 
fully  insured. 

The  list  of  newspapers  and  maga- 
zine offices  burned  out  is  a  formidable 
one.  Not  having  a  reference  at  hand, 
we  append  the  list  from  memory: 

DAILY  PAPERS  IN  ENGLISH. — Tribune,  Times, 
Republican,  Journal,  Post,  and  Mail. — 6. 

DAILIES  AND  WEEKLIES  (foreign). — Augustana, 
Union,  Die  Freie  Presse,  Fremad,  Gamla  och 
Nya,  Staats  Zeitung,  Volks'  Zeitung,  Ameri- 
kanische  Farmer,  Missionaren,  Nya  Venden, 
Landewerth,  Haus  Freund.  Die  Deutsche  Arbeiter, 
Catholische  Wochenblatt,  Svenska  Amerikanaren, 
Tuxbruder,  Skandinavien,  and  Westliche  Unter- 
haltungs  Blaater. — 19. 

JUVENILE  PUDLICATIONS. — Little  Men,  Young 
Pilot,  Young  Folks'  Rural,  Young  Messenger, 
Bright  Side,  Our  Boys,  Little  Corporal,  Child's 
Paper,  Child's  World,  Young  Reaper,  Amateur's 
Guide,  Youth's  Cabinet,  Young  Hero,  Scholar,  and 
Little  Folks. — 15. 

AGRICULTURAL. — Western  Rural  and  Prairie 
Farmer. — a. 


82 


WHA  T  REMAINS. 


RELIGIOUS  WEEKLIES. — Western  Catholic,  Sun- 
day-School Helper,  New  Covenant,  Interior,  Cath- 
olic Weekly,  Present  Age,  Choir,  Northwestern 
Christian  Advocate,  Song  Festival,  Sunday-School 
Teacher,  Lyceum  Banner,  Heavenly  Tidings, 
Standard,  Progress,  Advance,  Restitution,  Religic- 
Philosophical  Journal,  and  Bethel  Banner. — 18. 

MONTHLY  MAGAZINES. — LAKESIDE  MONTHLY, 
Arts,  American  Builder,  Examiner,  Bureau,  Man- 
ford's  Magazine,  Chicago  Magazine  of  Fashion, 
Congregational  Review,  Homoeopathic  Magazine, 
Medical  Times,  Journal  of  Microscopy,  Lens,  Art 
Review,  Bench  and  Bar,  Pharmacist,  Medical  Ex- 
aminer, Mystic  Star,  and  School  Master. — 18. 

BUSINESS  PERIODICALS.  —  Chicago  Advertiser, 
Board  of  Trade  Report,  Chicago  Collector,  Com- 
mercial Bulletin,  Commercial  Express,  Dry  Goods 
Price  List,  Journal  of  Commerce,  Railway  Review, 
Railroad  Gazette,  Commercial  Report  and  Market 


Review,  Northwestern  Review,  Real  Estate  and 
Building  Journal,  Chicago  Ledger,  Chicago  Mer- 
cantile Journal,  Insurance  Chronicle,  Detector, 
Land  Owner,  Spectator,  Western  Railway  Guide, 
Rand  &  McNally's  Railway  Guide,  Bryant  & 
Chase's  Review,  and  Druggists'  Price  Current. — 22. 

MISCELLANEOUS. — Bouquet  Programme,  Balance, 
Lorgnette,  Chicago  Democrat,  Home  Journal, 
Happy  Hours,  Legal  News,  Chicago  Cynosure, 
Evening  Lamp,  Everybody's  Paper,  Gem  of  the 
West,  Soldiers'  Friend,  Home  Circle  and  Temper- 
ance Oracle,  Life  Boat,  National  Prohibitionist, 
Chicago  Weekly,  Family  Circle,  Herald,  Independ- 
ent, Mechanic  and  Inventor,  National,  People's 
Weekly,  Reporter,  Workingman's  Advocate,  Daily 
Law  Record,  Inside  Track,  Western  Odd  Fellow, 
and  Voice  of  Masonry. — 28. 

Total  number  of  publications  burned  out,  128. 

G.  P.  Lpton. 


PART  V.— THE  FUTURE. 


WHAT    REMAIN.S. 


THE  sensations  of  that  committee 
of  intelligent  gentlemen  from 
Boston,  on  their  recent  visit  to  our  city, 
may  be  taken  as  representative.  They 
trailed  through  the  long  avenues  of 
ruin,  saw  a  desolation  so  complete  that 
neither  shrub  nor  roof,  and  scarcely  an 
exceptional  wall,  remained  —  three 
thousand  acres  sown  with  ashes ;  and 
their  impression  was  frankly  given 
that  Chicago  was  blotted  out,  that 
there  was  no  nucleus  around  which  to 
build,  that  if  ever  reconstructed  only 
the  outside  demand  for  a  city  must  be 
consulted,  for  there  was  absolutely 
nothing  left  inside  to  justify  restoration. 
Our  ruins  challenge  such  a  verdict.  A 
gentleman  of  large  interests  in  the  city 
invited  them  to  drive  with  him.  He 
conveyed  them  to  Lake  View,  beyond 
Lincoln  Park,  and  swept  them  over 
the  broad  expanse  of  the  West  Side, 
whose  thoroughfares  are  crammed  as 
though  for  a  holiday.  Their  eyes 
picked  up  the  magnificent  churches, 


the  miles  of  homes  of  every  order,  the 
great  lumber  yards  stretching  far 
south  and  west,  the  Stock  Yards  with 
their  clatter  of  hoofs  and  jostle  of 
horns,  the  business  pushing  south 
along  the  avenues,  past  Douglas 
Place  to  the  Boulevards,  and  they  ex- 
claimed, "  You  have  no  need  of  re- 
building. You  have  now  standing  one 
of  the  busiest,  most  populous  cities  of 
the  nation."  These  counter  impressions 
are  inevitable.  Desolation  unprece- 
dented, thrift  unprecedented,  destruc- 
tion and  useful  power,  lie  side  by  side. 
The  black  patch  is  the  blackest  and 
the  bright  patch  the  brightest.  Be- 
tween live  Chicago  and  dead  Chicago 
there  is  no  purgatorial  mediation,  no 
twilight  of  convalescence. 

These  sensations  represent  the  feel- 
ings of  the  people.  On  Tuesday  morn- 
ing after  the  fire,  all  was  lost.  To- 
day, to  the  sanguine,  the  opportunities 
afforded  for  improvement  in  reconstruc- 
tion have  made  a  gain  of  the  loss.  It 


WHA  T  REMAINS. 


has  been  estimated  that  $400,000,000 
of  property  and  200,000  people  were 
undisturbed  in  their  residences.  The 
vast  lumber  interest,  on  which  we  are 
to  depend  so  largely  for  material,  was 
unharmed.  The  packing  houses,  rep- 
resentatives of  Chicago  commerce, 
were  not  singed.  The  Stock  Yards, 
marvels  in  extent  and  perfection,  were 
left  to  serve  the  world's  provision 
market.  Only  five  of  the  grain  elevat- 
ors out  of  the  seventeen  which  the  city 
contained  were  destroyed. 

Though  more  miles  of  sidewalk 
have  been  burned  than  would  reach 
from  the  Lake  to  the  Mississippi,  yet 
twice  that  amount  remains.  The 
three  tunnels,  which  mark  an  era  in 
engineering  skill,  giving  us  connection 
with  fresh  water  under  the  lake,  and 
roadways  that  are  fire -proof,  uniting 
our  three  -  sectioned  city,  are  all  intact. 
Highways,  so  long  a  desiderata  of  our 
rapid  growth,  with  their  accompanying 
sewerage,  water,  and  gas,  are  without 
serious  damage.  The  railways  still 
point  their  unintermitting  tide  to  this 
focus.  The  business  which  energy 
and  capital  have  catered  for  through- 
out the  West  and  Northwest,  with 
hardly  an  exception  remained  true  to 
its  habit.  The  rivers  are  very  few 
whose  source  and  mouth  you  can 
transpose  as  our  engineers  did  the 
Chicago  River.  It  is  a  poor  satisfac- 
tion that  we  have  our  ruins  left,  with- 
out ivy  or  owl  or  bat,  as  vicing  with 
the  curiosities  of  the  world. 

Fire  chiefly  destroyed  material 
things,  not  character —  though  there 
were  a  few  mental  and  moral  shaving 
piles  that  burned  up.  That  night, 
when  the  social  and  the  civil  frame- 
work were  shattered,  bloody  riot  and 
chaotic  law -breaking  did  not  seize  our 
masses.  Calmness,  earnest  resignation 
and  heroism  stood  out  to  dignify  de- 
struction. Even  fire  is  better  than 
some  emasculating  corruption  which 
saps  the  integrity  of  the  inhabitants. 

It  is  the  champion  fire.  That 
stands  in  history.  The  best  time 
upon  record  that  fire  ever  made — 


four  and  a  half  miles  in  eighteen 
hours.  Chicago  has  not  remaining  the 
pusillanimity  of  having  been  slain  by 
an  insignificant  catastrophe,  but  by  a 
conflagration  that  would  have  pros- 
trated London  or  New  York.  She  has 
been  reminded  by  a  benevolence 
which  is  the  most  majestic  feature  of 
the  age,  that  her  commercial  and  social 
relations  with  the  whole  world  still 
stand. 

Like  the  bed  of  some  mighty  river 
suddenly  licked  dry,  the  fountain  and 
the  streamlets  and  the  clouds  remain. 
The  channel  is  clear.  All  agencies 
are  busy  filling  its  banks  again.  The 
men  remain — those  selected  for  forty 
years,  out  of  all  the  nations  on  the 
earth,  as  best  fitted  for  this  mercurial 
life.  Compared  with  the  laws  that 
work  to  assort  such  an  army,  and  the 
expense  of  pain  and  purse  to  root  them 
here,  the  burned  buildings  are  but  rub- 
bish and  twopence.  The  only  cities 
that  are  built  of  marble  and  mortar 
are  cemeteries  and  mausoleums.  A 
city  means  men  and  women. 

How  much  folly  and  selfishness  we 
have  left,  will  be  displayed  in  the 
scrabble  to  locate  official  and  business 
centres.  It  has  been  supposed  that  the 
government  and  municipal  buildings 
were  on  wheels,  and  that  the  strongest 
team  of  selfish  influence  would  deter- 
mine their  unloading.  We  trust  that  all 
greed  so  monstrous  perished  in  the 
fire  without  insurance.  Aside  from 
one  hypochondriac  maiden  whom  the 
sudden  fright  restored,  we  have  heard 
of  no  credits  entered  up  to  the  fire  of 
diseases  cured.  Our  friend  with  the 
crutches  did  not  lose  his  rheumatism 
with  his  supports,  and  the  cough  of 
our  consumptive  neighbor  was  better 
protected  than  were  greenbacks  in  the 
safes.  Fires  would  be  useful  if  they 
would  burn  up  only  nuisances,  dis- 
eases, weaknesses  and  wood.  If  that 
enemy  of  childhood  could  have  caught 
the  fever  heat  and  scarlet  color  from 
the  occasion,  and  made  it  a  cremation, 
all  infanthood  would  have  paid  the 
insurance  with  a  smile.  The  man  who 


NEW  CHICAGO. 


dug  down  to  find  whether  the  mortgage 
was  burned  off  with  the  buildings,  dis- 
covered that  mortgages  are  the  only 
fire -proof  structures  you  can  place 
upon  a  lot. 

All  the  bores  and  scolds,  most  of  the 
drunkards  and  thieves,  are  slightly 
disarranged,  but  are  eddying  to  their 
centres.  It  is  singular  that  when  so- 
ciety takes  to  itself  wings  and  flies 
away,  it  will  fly  back  and  alight,  like  a 
migratory  bird,  in  its  old  locality. 

There  remains  as  the  delicate  and 
permanent  crystal  precipitated  by  this 


disaster,  an  exquisite  and  lustrous 
gratitude  in  every  Chicago  heart. 
Such  a  remnant  is  like  a  mountain 
clarified  and  chemicalized  to  a  dia- 
mond. It  shall  be  the  jewel  in  the 
casket  of  the  New  Chicago.  We  con- 
fidently believe  that  in  the  records  of 
the  work  of  the  "  Relief  and  Aid  So- 
ciety" and  of  tributary  and  supple- 
mentary charities,  a  monument  of 
system,  judicious  expenditure  and  in- 
tegrity will  be  built,  which  will  be  a 
credit  to  the  city  and  a  model  for  the 
world. 

William  Alvin  Bartlett. 


NEW    CHICAGO. 


IN  the  opening  paper  of  this  number 
we  have  shown  how  forbidding  was 
the  aspect  of  the  original  site  of  Chica- 
go, and  what  a  series  of  public  works 
were  executed  to  make  it  one  of  the 
most  attractive  cities  in  the  Union.  So 
overpowering  was  the  commercial  ne- 
cessity that  here  should  be  a  great  en- 
trepot, that  one  would  have  been  con- 
structed, even  if  the  ground  had  had 
to  be  reclaimed  from  Lake  Michigan. 
The  same  causes  which  led  to  this 
wonderful  development,  still  exist  in 
full  force.  The  resources  of  Chicago 
are  but  slightly  impaired.  Her  geo- 
graphical position  is  on  the  water-shed 
between  two  great  systems  of  inland 
navigation,  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
Mississippi,  by  which  she  can  commu- 
nicate with  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  The  navigable  waters  of 
these  river  systems  exceed  12,000  miles, 
and  they  afford  a  transportation  which 
for  cheapness  can  never  be  superceded 
by  any  artificial  mode  of  conveyance. 
The  differences  of  climate,  soil,  and 
products  along  the  line  of  these  two 
river  systems,  lie  at  the  foundation  of 
the  extensive  exchanges  which  must  for 
all  time  be  maintained  between  regions 
thus  widely  separated.  Chicago  is  also 


the  centre  of  a  network  of  railways 
which  have  cost  not  less  than  $300,- 
000,000.  Not  a  mile  of  track  will  be 
abandoned  in  consequence  of  the  fire ; 
nor  will  their  transporting  capacity  be 
in  the  least  diminished.  The  proprie- 
tors of  the  great  pineries  of  the  North 
will  continue  to  make  use  of  this  port 
for  the  sale  and  transfer  of  their  im- 
mense cargoes  of  lumber  so  extensively 
used  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the 
beef  and  pork  and  breadstuffs  of  the 
West  will  still  continue  to  accumulate 
here,  preparatory  to  their  distribution 
throughout  the  markets  of  the  world. 
Some  of  our  business  men  who  wielded 
these  vast  interests,  may  be  compelled, 
to  succumb  to  their  misfortunes ;  but 
other  men  with  other  means  will  come 
in  to  take  their  places.  Capital  instinct- 
ively flows  to  the  most  profitable  chan- 
nels ;  it  requires  no  legislation  to  direct 
it.  When  a  vessel  founders  at  sea,  the 
waves  close  over  her  and  the  surface 
almost  instantly  assumes  its  wonted 
aspect.  So  the  void  created  by  this 
calamity  will  soon  be  filled  by  capital 
flowing  in  from  other  cities  the  world 
over.  The  great  volume  of  commerce 
will  continue  to  move  in  its  accustomed 
channels.  There  will  be  found  men 


NEW  CHICAGO. 


enough  and  means  enough  for  all  its 
requirements. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  in  political  econ- 
omy, that  a  nation  whose  government 
is  stable  and  whose  laws  are  judicious 
and  well  administered,  rapidly  recovers 
from  apparently  overwhelming  misfor- 
tune. The  Northern  States  are  far 
richer  to  -  day  than  before  the  Rebellion. 
England  rapidly  recovered  from  the 
immense  drain  upon  her  resources 
during  her  continental  wars,  and  for 
half  a  century  has  been  the  richest 
kingdom  in  Christendom ;  and  France 
bears  up  wonderfully  under  the  terrible 
defeats  inflicted  upon  her  by  Prussia. 
Ten  years,  it  is  estimated,  is  sufficient 
for  a  nation  to  recuperate  from  the 
effects  of  the  most  desolating  war ;  and 
five  years,  we  predict,  will  be  sufficient 
to  obliterate  from  Chicago  all  traces  of 
the  Great  Conflagration.  Taught  by 
this  terrible  example,  her  people  will 
realize  the  necessity,  for  the  first  time 
in  her  history,  of  discarding  inflamma- 
ble materials  in  the  construction  of  ex- 
ternal walls.  Without  the  enforcement 
of  such  a  policy,  insurance  will  demand 
exorbitant  rates,  capital  will  seek  safer 
investments,  and  business  men  will  live 
in  constant  dread  of  wide -spread  con- 


flagrations. It  will  be  found  that  no 
policy  could  be  adopted  more  fatal  to 
the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  city, 
than  to  allow  the  burnt  district  to  be 
rebuilt  in  the  same  reckless  and  im- 
provident manner  as  before  the  fire. 
If  the  greed  of  speculators,  in  this  re- 
spect, overmasters  the  judicious  public 
sentiment,  let  the  authority  of  the  Leg- 
islature be  invoked.  We  have  yet  two 
considerable  cities  left  —  one  on  the 
South  Side  and  one  on  the  West ;  but 
both  of  them  are  liable  to  the  same  visi- 
tation which  reduced  to  ashes  the  cen- 
tral portion  and  the  Northern  Division. 

We  believe,  then,  that  in  this  con- 
test —  for  it  has  already  assumed  that 
position  —  the  judicious,  public  senti- 
ment will  triumph  ;  and  instead  of  long 
streets  of  shanties,  we  shall  have  sub- 
stantial tenements  of  brick  and  stone. 

As  the  burnt  districts  of  London, 
Moscow,  and  New  York  rose  from  their 
ashes  more  substantially  built,  more 
beautifully  adorned,  and  better  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  commerce,  so  will  it  be 
with  the  burnt  district  of  Chicago.  Al- 
ready from  out  the  depths  of  her  deso- 
lation she  proclaims  as  her  motto  — 
"  RESURGAM." 

J.  W.  Foster. 


THE  FIRES  OF  HISTOR  Y. 


SUPPLEMENTARY. 


THE   FIRES   OF    HISTORY. 


VIEWED  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
Chicago  fire,  the  great  fires  of  history 
are  few  and  far  between.  The  magnitude 
of  the  present  calamity,  in  respect  of  area, 
value  of  property  destroyed,  number  of 
people  rendered  homeless,  and  consequent 
extent  of  suffering  entailed,  is  such  that 
most  of  those  conflagrations  of  the  past 
which  are  deemed  of  sufficient  importance 
to  find  a  place  upon  the  page  of  history  are 
dwarfed  by  comparison.  The  situation  of 
Chicago,  its  commercial  importance,  and 
intimate  connection  with  all  the  great  inter- 
ests, not  only  of  the  West,  but  of  the  New 
World  itself,  render  its  destruction  probably 
more  noticeable  and  startling,  and  its  results 
more  widely  felt,  than  those  of  any  other 
similar  calamity  on  record.  Chicago  was, 
and  is,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world. 
The  unparalleled  rapidity  of  its  growth  — 
springing  in  the  brief  space  of  thirty  years 
from  a  mere  hamlet  to  an  immense  com- 
mercial metropolis  the  third  in  size  of  the 
Union  —  has  awakened  the  wonder  and 
admiration  of  the  world;  spreading  its 
fame  to  the  remotest  corner  of  civilized 
life,  not  only  as  the  proudest  manifestation 
of  the  concentration  of  all  Anglo  -  Saxon 
energy  and  enterprise,  but  also  as  the 
shining  type  of  the  progress  of  the  Nine- 
teenth century.  Hence  its  loss  has  aroused 
the  sympathy  of  mankind  to  an  extent 
unequalled  in  the  annals  of  profane  his- 
tory, and  rendered  this  awful  8th  and  pth 
of  October  memorable  for  all  time.  Not 
even  the  Franco  -  German  war  has  so  mark- 
ed this  year  of  1871  as  the  great  Chicago 
fire,  which  henceforth  creates  a  new  start- 
ing point  for  the  memories  of  the  rising 
generation. 

But,  however  the  magnitude  of  this  ca- 
lamity may  have  dwarfed  out  of  sight  many 
of  those  which  were  heretofore  considered 
among  the  great  fires  of  the  past,  there  are 
still  left  many  ineffaceable  spots  upon  the 


tablets  of  history,  where  this  most  destruc- 
tive of  the  elements  has  scorched  its  record 
upon  the  ages,  here  and  there,  at  long  in- 
tervals, marking  in  flame  the  story  of  hu- 
man suffering  wrought  by  man's  destructive- 
ness,  Divine  vengeance,  or  the  inevitable 
accident  common  to  all  human  affairs. 

The  earliest  recorded  fire  is  the  destruc- 
tion of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  Admah  and 
Zeboim,  the  "cities  of  the  plain,"  now 
slumbering  eternally  beneath  the  Dead  Sea 
waters,  a  mark  to  all  earthly  generations  of 
the  wrath  of  an  offended  Deity.  The  burn- 
ing of  these  cities,  recorded  only  in  Holy 
Writ,  took  place  about  the  year  1897,  B.C., 
and  is  only  known  as  a  great  fact  of  the 
world's  history,  all  the  details  being  forever 
lost. 

Sardis,  the  once  famous  capital  of  Lydia 
in  Asia  Minor,  the  residence  of  Crsoeus  of 
fabled  wealth,  the  "  Hyde  "  of  Homer,  and 
seat  of  one  of  the  seven  churches  mention- 
ed in  the  Book  of  Revelations,  was  burned 
by  the  lonians  and  Athenians  in  the  year 
504,  B.  C.,  its  destruction  resulting  in  the 
famous  wars  of  the  Greeks  and  Persians, 
which  culminated  some  twenty  -  four  years 
later  in  the  defeat  of  Xerxes  the  Great, 
whose  chief  motive  for  his  Greek  campaign 
is  said  to  have  been  his  indignation  at  the 
wanton  destruction  of  this  wealthy  and 
beautiful  city. 

The  next  great  flame  of  history  which 
startled  the  ancient  world,  was  the  burning 
of  the  magnificent  temple  of  Diana  at  Eph- 
esus,  in  the  year  356,  B.  C.  This  temple 
was  one  of  the  "  Seven  Wonders  of  the 
\Vorld."  It  was  425  feet  in  length  and  220 
feet  high  —  its  roof  of  cedar  resting  upon 
a  marble  entablature  and  supported  by  128 
columns,  60  feet  in  height,  each  the  gift  of 
a  king.  It  contained  an  ivory  statue  of 
Diana,the  master-pieces  of  the  most  eminent 
artists,  and  enormous  wealth  of  ornamenta- 
tion, chiefly  of  the  precious  metals.  It  was 


THE  FIRES  OF  HISTOR  Y. 


fired  by  one  Erostratus,  otherwise  unknown 
to  fame,  whose  only  motive  for  the  act  was 
expressed  in  his  dying  words,  "  A  yearn- 
ing for  immortality  " ;  an  immortality  of 
infamy  which  the  deed  secured  in  spite  of 
Grecian  enactments  by  which  his  country- 
men strove  to  bury  even  his  name  in  obliv- 
ion. As  the  flames  of  the  temple  ascended 
to  heaven,  a  flaming  scourge  of  humanity 
descended  upon  earth  in  the  person  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  whose  birth  on  that 
same  night  was  heralded  by  the  triumph  of 
the  fiery  element,  as  the  death  of  Napoleon 
was,  in  later  years,  by  the  war  of  the  ele- 
ments of  the  air. 

Twenty  -  eight  years  lajer,  in  the  year 
328,  B.  C.,  this  same  Alexander,  in  a  drunk- 
en frolic,  and  at  the  behest  of  a  courtesan, 
fired  the  palace  of  Persepolis,  which  was 
consumed,  with  a  large  portion  of  the  city, 
startling  the  world  with  horror  at  the  results 
of  the  twin  vices  of  drunkenness  and  sen- 
suality. 

Thus  Divine  vengeance  destroyed  the 
cities  of  the  plain  —  human  wrath  and  ven- 
geance the  piled  wealth  of  Sardis  —  a  fool- 
ish yearning  for  notoriety  Diana's  gorgeous 
temple,  and  wine  and  women  the  beautiful 
palace  and  city  of  Persepolis. 

But  none  of  these  conflagrations  so 
shook  the  world  and  so  deeply  burned  their 
memory  upon  the  pages  of  history,  as  did 
that  of  Rome  in  the  year  69.  This  act  has 
generally  been  attributed  to  Nero,  in  the 
tenth  year  of  whose  reign  it  occurred.  By 
some  historians,  however,  it  was  attributed 
to  the  Christians,  and  by  others  to  a  sect  of 
so  -  called  Galilaeans,  followers  of  Judas 
the  Gaulonite.  The  story  of  Nero's  guilt, 
and  of  his  "  fiddling  while  Rome  was  burn- 
ing," is  now  generally  considered  a  myth, 
so  unreliable  and  conflicting  are  the  state- 
ments of  historians ;  and  the  question  of 
the  authorship  of  the  calamity  is  involved 
in  doubt  which  can  never  be  cleared  away. 
The  conflagration  raged  for  eight  days,  to- 
tally destroying  three  of  the  fourteen  dis- 
tricts of  the  city,  and  leaving  only  a  few 
half -ruined  houses  standing  in  seven  oth- 
ers, only  four  districts  remaining  unharmed. 
In  this  destruction  perished  an  immense 
treasure  of  Greek  and  Roman  art  —  tro- 
phies of  their  wars  —  and  temples  and  cost- 
ly palaces  innumerable.  Rome  was  then 


bnt  little  past  the  zenith  of  her  power  and 
glory.  The  city  must  have  contained  a  pop- 
ulation of  2,000,000,  and  was  crowded 
with  the  captured  and  imported  wealth  of 
all  nations.  She  was  then  the  metropolis 
of  the  world,  and  the  total  destruction  of 
five  -  sevenths  of  her  entire  area  must  have 
involved  incalculable  loss  and  untold  mise- 
ry to  her  teeming  population,  though  of  the 
details  of  loss  and  suffering  history  pre- 
serves no  record.  The  result  of  the  fire, 
however,  was  in  the  end  advantageous  to 
the  city  itself,  since  it  was  immediately  re- 
built in  far  better  style,  of  more  durable 
materials,  and  upon  a  more  regular  plan. 
Heeding  the  lesson  of  the  conflagration, 
the  Emperor  prohibited  the  use  of  wood  in 
its  reconstruction. 

The  next  year  after  the  burning  of  Rome 
—  in  the  year  70  —  occurred  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  in  which  the  mag- 
nificent temple  of  the  Jews,  together  with  a 
large  portion  of  the  city,  was  given  to  the 
flames,  in  spite  of  the  frantic  efforts  of  Ti- 
tus himself  to  stay  the  wanton  destruction. 
The  wealth  of  the  city  was  enormous,  and 
its  size  may  be  appreciated  from  the  fact 
that,  according  to  Josephus,  1,100,000  peo- 
ple perished  in  its  siege  and  destruction. 
As  almost  the  entire  Jewish  race  was  assem- 
bled in  the  city  to  celebrate  the  feast  of 
unleavened  bread  when  all  egress  was  cut 
off  by  the  besieging  army,  it  may  well  be 
believed  that  the  loss  of  life  from  the  con- 
flagration itself,  aside  from  the  slaughter  by 
the  Romans,  must  have  been  such  as  the 
world  never  saw  before  or  since.  Indeed 
the  historian  relates  that  6,000  people,  men, 
women,  and  children,  were  burned  in  a 
single  building  in  which  they  had  sought 
refuge. 

In  the  year  642  was  burned,  by  order  of 
the  Caliph  Omar,  the  Alexandrian  Library, 
the  most  enormous  collection  of  books  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  containing  at  one  time, 
according  to  some  writers  400,000,  accord- 
ing to  others  700,000  volumes.  The  Ca- 
liph's reason  for  its  destruction  was  curious 
enough.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  these  Greek 
books  agree  with  the  Koran,  they  are  use- 
less ;  if  not,  they  should  be  destroyed," — 
and  accordingly,  without  stopping  to  settle 
the  question,  the  torch  was  applied,  and  the 
stored  wealth  of  classic  lore,  the  work  of 


THE  FiRES  OF  HISTORY. 


men's  brains  for  ages,  and  which  had  con- 
sumed centuries  in  their  collection,  went  up 
to  heaven  in  smoke  and  flame,  and  in  their 
destruction  were  forever  lost  the  works  of 
some  of  the  world's  greatest  minds  ;  and 
many  an  author  of  once   towering   fame, 
was  by  a  single  fire  consigned  to  oblivion. 
Descending  to  riiore  modem  times,we  find 
the  first  really  great  fire  on  record  to  be  that 
of  London,  in  the  year  1666.     Like  most 
large  cities,  London  has  had  more  than  one 
contest  with  the  fire  fiend.     In  the  year  6l, 
it  was  burned  by  the  Britons ;  in  the  years 
893»  l°77»  1086,  1132,  and  1136,  it  was 
nearly  consumed.  At  these  times,  however, 
it  was  but  an  inconsiderable  city,  its  popu- 
lation in  1 141  being  only  40,000.     The  fire 
of  1666  broke  out  on  September  3d,  in  a 
baker's   shop,   and   owing  to  the   narrow 
streets,  wooden  buildings,  an  extremely  dry 
season,  and  a  violent  east  wind  blowing  at 
the  time,  spread  so  rapidly  that  it  resisted 
all  efforts  to  extinguish  it.     Four  days  and 
nights  it  raged  incessantly,  and  was  only 
checked  at  last  by  the  free  use  of  gunpow- 
der, blowing  up  whole  blocks  in  the  line  of 
its  path.     Five  -  sixths   of  the   entire   city 
within  the  walls  was  destroyed,  the  confla- 
gration extending  over  an   area  of  more 
than  400  acres,  and  destroying  400  streets 
and  13,000  houses.     King  Charles  II.  and 
his  brother  the  Duke  of  York  —  afterwards 
James  II. —  were  on  the  scene  in  person, 
directing  the  efforts  of  the  firemen,  and  do- 
ing yeoman's  service  in  fighting  the  flames. 
In  its  incidents  and  results,  this  fire  was 
more  similar  to  that  of  Chicago  than  any 
other  on   record.     The  frightened  people 
were  driven  in  crowds  from  street  to  street, 
and  from  one  refuge  to  another,  families 
being  separated,  parents  and  children,  hus- 
bands and   wives,  seeking  each  other  in 
vain,  and  finally  the  whole  panic  -  stricken 
multitude  were  driven  to  sleep  in  the  fields 
beyond  the  city,  in  the  midst  of  a  shower 
of  rain.     The  misery  and  suffering  of  rich 
and  poor  alike  were  immense.     The  public 
storehouses  were  thrown  open,  and  thous- 
ands were  fed  by  charity.     Parliament  im 
mediately  voted  a  levy   of  ^1,800,000  to 
relieve  the  necessities  of  the  suffering.  And 
as  in  the  present  case,  one  of  the  first  great 
questions  which  agitated  the  public  mind 
was  that  of  the  titles  to  real  estate,  and  Par 


liament  was  forced  to  appoint  commission- 
ers to  decide  all  questions  arising  from  the 
loss  of  deeds  and  records. 

The  results,  however,  as  is  generally  the 
case  in  such  calamities,  was  in  the  end  ben- 
eficial. The  city  was,  within  four  years, 
rebuilt  in  far  better  style.  Wooden  mate- 
rial, which  before  had  been  almost  univer- 
sally used  in  building,  was  now  absolutely 
prohibited;  the  streets  were  made  wider 
and  more  regular,  and  the  whole  plan  of 
the  city  improved;  and,  best  of  all,  the 
plague,  which  for  centuries  before  had  peri- 
odically ravaged  the  city,  was  thereafter 
unknown. 

Constantinople  from  its  faulty  construc- 
tion and  inflammable  material,  has  so  fre- 
quently been  the  victim  of  fire  that  a  con- 
flagration in  that  city  rarely  attracts  the 
attention  of  the  world.  In  1778  and  1782 
large  portions  of  this  city  were  consumed. 
In  1852,  in  a  single  night,  seven  fires  des- 
troyed 3,500  houses;  and  no  longer  ago 
than  1870  a  great  fire  swept  away  7,000  of 
its  houses,  entailing  a  loss  of  ^25,000,000 
or  1 1 25 ,000,000  of  our  money ;  a  loss  which 
in  magnitude  approaches  that  of  Chicago. 

Next  to  the  Great  Fire  of  London,  the 
most  shining  mark  of  flame  upon  the  tablets 
of  history  was  the  burning  of  Moscow, 
startling  as  well  by  its  own  magnitude  and 
extent  of  loss  and  suffering,  as  by  its  indi- 
rect consequence  in  the  immense  privation 
and  loss  of  human  life  which  it  entailed 
upon  the  French  army.  Moscow  was  nearly 
consumed  by  fire  in  1536,  1547,  and  again 
in  1571,  when  it  was  fired  in  the  suburbs 
by  the  Tartars,  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
population  perished  in  the  flames.  In  161 1 
it  was  again  partly  burnt  by  the  Poles. 
Some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  its  last  con- 
flagration in  1812  may  be  obtained  from 
the  facts  that  it  was  then  a  city  as  large  as 
Chicago,  containing  4,000  stone  and  8,000 
wooden  buildings,  with  a  population  of 
300,000,  and  covering  an  area  at  that  time 
larger  than  the  city  of  London,  being  eight 
miles  in  diameter  and  twenty  -  four  miles  in 
circumference.  It  was  built  in  four  concen- 
tric circles,  each  surrounded  by  a  strong 
wall.  It  was  the  capital  and  metropolis  of 
the  Russian  Empire,  crowded  with  the 
\vealth,  luxury,  and  refinement  of  the  great 
Empire  of  the  North.  Prior  to  its  evacua- 


THE  FIRES  OF  HISTOR  K 


tion  by  the  Russian  army,  its  inhabitants 
were  ruthlessly  driven  out,  100,000  of  them 
to  perish  in  the  barren  and  inhospitable 
fields,  in  the  most  frightful  suffering  and 
privation.  A  long  drought  had  prevailed. 
A  tempest  of  wind  sprang  up  the  day  be- 
fore the  fire,  as  if  on  purpose  to  aid  in  its 
destruction.  The  fire  engines  had  been 
destroyed,  and  all  means  of  extinguishing 
the  flames  cut  off.  The  city  was  fired  in 
five  hundred  places,  and  soon,  in  spite  of 
the  frantic  efforts  of  the  French  soldiery, 
became  an  "  ocean  of  flame."  The  scenes 
that  transpired  in  its  streets  were  too  horri- 
ble for  pen  to  depict.  Thirty  thousand  of 
the  Russian  sick  and  wounded  were  burned 
to  death,  and  Napoleon  himself  almost  mi- 
raculously escaped.  When  at  last  the  flame 
fiend  departed,  but  200  stone  and  500 
wooden  buildings  remained  standing.  The 
French  army,  which  left  the  smoking  ruins 
over  100,000  strong,  was  nearly  annihilated 
in  its  retreat.  Directly  and  indirectly,  200,- 
ooo  human  lives  .were  sacrificed  by  this 
barbarous  act  of  Rostopchin. 

On  May  5th,  1842,  a  fire  broke  out  in 
the  city  of  Hamburg,  which  raged  for  foui 
days,  destroying  one  -  third  of  the  entire 
city.  And  with  this  we  close  the  record  of 
the  Old  World. 

On  our  own  continent,  the  first  conflagra- 
tion of  note,  and  the  greatest  before  that  of 
Chicago,  was  that  of  New  York  city  in 
1835,  which  swept  the  first  ward  east  of 
Broadway  and  below  Wall  Street,  destroy- 
ing 648  stores,  the  Merchant's  Exchange 
South  Dutch  Church,  and  property  valued 
at  over  $18,000,000. 

On  July  i  gth,  1845,  New  York  was  again 
visited  by  fire,  which  raged  between  Broad- 
way, Exchange  Place,  Broad  and  Stone 
Streets,  destroying  $5,000,000  worth  of 
property. 

In  Charleston,  S.  C.,on  April  27th,  1838, 
1.158  buildings  were  destroyed  by  fire,  over 
an  area  of  145  acres. 

Pittsburg  was  visited  by  flames  on  April 
loth,  1845,  her  entire  business  quarter,  to 
the  extent  of  sixty  acres  and  1,000  build- 
ings, being  consumed,  at  a  loss  of  $5,000,- 

000. 

The  same  year  two  terrible  fires  occurred. 


in  Quebec,  at  a  month's  interval,  destroy- 
ing in  all  3,000  buildings  and  over  $8,000,- 
ooo  worth  of  property,  making  a  loss  in  that 
disastrous  year  of  some  $  1 8,000,000  in  four 
conflagrations. 

In  September,  1848,50016  twenty  -  four 
acres  of  the  city  of  Albany,'  containing  over 
300  buildings,  were  burned  over,  the  loss 
being  over  $3,000,000. 

St.  Louis,  in  July,  1849,  l°st  35°  build- 
ings, and  property  valued  at  $3,000,000. 

San  Francisco,  from  its  crowded  con- 
struction and  combustible  materials,  has 
been  peculiarly  subject  to  fires.  Her  great- 
est losses  from  this  cause  have  been  —  on 
December  24th,  1849,  $1,000,000;  May 
4th,  1 850,  $3,000,000,  June  14^,1850,  $3,- 
000,000;  May  2d,  1851,  $7,000,000,  inclu- 
ding 2,500  buildings;  June  22d,  1851,  $2,- 
000,000;  making  within  eighteen  months 
a  total  loss  by  fire  of  $16,000,000,  in  a  city 
of  30,000  inhabitants,  or  over  $500  for  ev- 
ery living  soul  within  her  limits. 

The  greatest  single  calamity  by  fire,  be- 
tween the  great  fire  of  New  York  and  that 
of  Chicago,  was  the  burning  of  Portland, 
Maine,  on  July  4th,  1866.  This  conflagra- 
tion arose  from  so  simple  a  matter  as  a  fire- 
cracker in  the  hands  of  a  careless  boy.  A 
gale  of  wind  was  blowing  from  the  south, 
which  carried  the  flames  in  spite  of  every 
effort,  sweeping  as  with  the  besom  of  des- 
truction a  space  a  mile  in  length  and  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  width,  and  destroying 
nearly  one  -  half  the  city,  including  the  busi- 
ness portions.  Even  gunpowder  failed  to 
check  the  flames,  over  fifty  buildings  being 
blown  up  in  vain.  The  loss  was  estimated 
at  over  $10,000,000.  More  than  a  quarter 
of  the  entire  population  of  the  city  was  ren- 
dered homeless,  and  thousands  of  them 
lived  for  weeks  in  tents  and  huts,  supported 
by  the  contributions  of  money,  food,  and 
clothing  which  poured  in  from  the  other 
cities  of  the  Union,  to  the  value  of  half  a 
million  dollars.  It  may  well  be  said  that 
the  Portland  youngster's  fire  cracker  was 
the  costliest  one  ever  fired  in  America. 
"  Ten  cents  a  bunch,"  is  the  usual  price; 
but  this  one  cracker  cost  Portland  $10,000,- 
ooo. 

Egbert  Phetys. 


SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES. 


SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES. 


THE  comprehensive  plan  of  the  "  Fire 
proof"  number  of  THE  LAKESIDE 
would  be  scarcely  complete  without  some 
reference  to  the  effects  of  the  great  confla- 
gration upon  the  general,  conditions  of  the 
Earth's  surface,  and  the  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal forms  that  exist  upon  it.  Of  course 
such  a  topic  could  not  be  treated  exhaust- 
ively within  the  limits  of  a  magazine  arti- 
cle; we  simply  propose  to  take  a  brief 
glance  at  the  subject,  and  to  close  with  an 
attempt  to  show  the  primary  causes  of  the 
terrible  phenomenon. 

It  will  be  necessary,  however,  in  this  dis- 
cussion, to  take  in  with  the  mind's  eye  a 
much  larger  area  than  that  of  the  burned 
district  in  Chicago.  The  wholesale  devas- 
tation of  our  fair  city  was  but  an  item  in 
the  wide  •  spread  ravages  of  the  fire  fiend 
during  the  first  half  of  October,  1871.  At 
the  time  the  fairest  portion  of  our  city  was 
being  laid  in  ashes,  the  devouring  flames 
were  making  havoc  almost  all  over  the  Uni- 
ted States  of  America.  On  that  fatal  night 
the  fires  were  sweeping  over  the  lum- 
bering regions  of  Wisconsin,  Michigan, 
and  Minnesota,  laying  bare  many  thousands 
of  acres  of  timber  land,  and  burning  up 
every  organic  substance  on  a  vast  range  of 
improved  land  in  those  States.  And  about 
the  same  time,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Indiana,  Kansas,  Missouri,  California,  Ne- 
vada, and  the  Rocky  Mountain  regions, 
were  alike  visited  by  destructive  conflagra- 
tions. Many  scores  of  thousands  of  peo- 
ple were  rendered  homeless,  hundreds  were 
killed,  and  the  property  accumulations  of 
several  years  were  ruthlessly  swept  out  of 
existence. 

In    the    chemical    and    meteorological 

» changes  evolved  by  these  fires,  the  Chicago 

conflagration  really  acted  but  a  subordinate 

part ;  though  immense  in  itself,  it  was  but 

small  in  proportion  to  the  whole. 

It  is  yet  too  early  to  make  an  accurate 
estimate  of  the  area  traversed  by  the  fire  in 
the  forests  of  the  Northwestern  States. 
That  can  only  be  done  after  the  whole 
ground  has  been  re  -  surveyed.  But  the 
very  lowest  estimate  we  can  make  places 


the  amount  of  timbered  land  actually  burned 
over,  at  not  less  than  480,000  acres,  of 
which  200,000  acres  are  in  Michigan.  This 
is  equal  to  750  square  miles  of  territory, 
containing  the  material  that  would  yield  a 
product  of  1,800,000,000  feet  of  lumber 
for  the  market,  or  very  nearly  as  much  as 
Chicago  has  received  during  the  past  two 
years. 

At  least  an  equal  extent  of  other  than 
timbered  land  was  burned  over  —  including 
what  are  technically  called  "  clearings," 
where  the  trees  have  been  cut  down,  leav- 
ing vast  quantities  of  combustible  material, 
and  many  hundreds  of  farms,  some  of 
them  a  long  way  removed  from  the  lumber 
regions.  The  total  area  of  country  burned 
over,  wooded  and  open,  cannot  be  less  than 
one  thousand  square  miles,  and  is  probably 
very  much  more  than  that  amount. 

And  this  vast  tract  of  country  was  com- 
pletely denuded.  The  ordinary  fire  in  the 
woods  only  burns  up  the  brush,  and  the 
boughs  of  trees,  leaving  the  trunks  stand- 
ing, with  a  mere  char  on  the. outside ;  they 
can  still  be  utilized  for  lumber,  provided 
they  are  cut  down  and  thrown  into  the  wa- 
ter before  the  well-known  borer  has  a 
chanoe  to  attack  them.  But  in  the  fires  of 
last  October  a  large  proportion  of  the  trees 
were  burned  through  to  the  core,  and  fell 
to  the  ground,  little  better  than  attenuated 
sticks  of  charcoal.  It  was  a  destroying 
fire,  that  literally  burned  up,  "  root  and 
branch,"  while  the  fences,  hay,  buildings, 
etc.,  on  the  farming  lands  were  so  com- 
pletely licked  up  that  not  even  the  ashes 
were  left  to  indicate  the  places  where  they 
had  formerly  existed. 

It  is  manifestly  impossible  to  tell  exactly 
the  quantities  of  wood,  hay,  straw,  and 
other  combustibles  burned  up  in  those  fires. 
Could  we  do  so,  it  would  be  easy  to  calcu- 
late the  precise  number  of  pounds  of  car- 
bon set  free  in  the  process ;  because  the 
science  of  Chemistry  enables  us  to  say,  to 
an  ounce,  how  much  of  each  of  the  ele- 
ments enters  into  the  composition  of  a  ton 
of  any  named  material.  Thus,  we  know 
that  straw  and  dry  pine  wood  each  contain 


SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES. 


thirty  -  eight  per  cent,  of  carbon,  and  hay 
nearly  forty -one  (40.73)  per  cent.  But 
we  can  make  a  sufficiently  close  approxima- 
tion to  answer  our  present  purpose.  Taking 
the  minima  of  estimated  area  of  country  as 
a  basis,  the  writer  has  made  a  careful  cal 
culation  from  averages  of  the  quantities  of 
material  destroyed  on  those  areas,  and  has 
computed,  in  a  similar  way,  the  products  of 
the  combustion  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  with 
the  following  conclusions : 

As  a  chemical  result  of  this  immense 
burning,  we  have  not  less  than  three  mill- 
ion tons  of  carbon  from  the  country,  arid 
three  hundred  thousand  tons  from  the  city, 
liberated  from  its  union  with  other  elements, 
and  carried  up  into  the  air.  Every  three 
pounds  of  this  would  take  up  eight  pounds 
of  oxygen,  forming  eleven  pounds  of  car- 
bonic acid  gas.  Here  we  have  an  addition 
of  twelve  million  tons  of  free  carbonic  acid 
gas  to  the  quantity  already  existing  in  the 
atmosphere.  Knowing  as  we  do  how  much 
the  conditions  of  animal  and  vegetable  ex- 
istence depend  upon  the  constitution  of  the 
aerial  envelope  of  our  globe,  it  becomes 
important  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  disturb  • 
ance  from  the  normal  state,  produced  by 
this  phenomenon. 

The  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  gas  nor- 
mal to  the  atmosphere  at  the  present  day  is 
estimated  to  be  about  one  part  in  two  thou- 
sand ;  the  weight  will,  therefore,  be  a  little 
less  than  twenty  thousand  million  tons. 
Hence  its  proportion  in  the  atmosphere  has 
been  increased  by  about  one  part  in  sixteen 
hundred.  The  total  weight  of  atmospheric 
oxygen  being  a  little  over  nine  million  mill- 
ion tons,  its  proportion  has  been  decreased 
to  the  extent  of  nearly  o.ne  part  in  a  million. 
Accepting  Liebig's  estimate  that  the  annual 
consumption  of  oxygen  by  the  lower  ani- 
mals and  by  combustion  is  double  the  quan- 
tity consumed  by  human  beings  in  breath- 
ing, we  arrive  at  the  astounding  result  that 
the  oxygen  taken  up  by  the  Northwestern 
fires  was  equal  to  the  amount  required  to 
supply  the  consumption  of  ten  months  all 
over  the  globe. 

So  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge,  the  vege- 
table kingdom  was  intended  by  the  Creator 
to  act  as  an  exact  counterpoise  to  the  animal 
world,  the  former  returning  to  the  atmos- 
phere just  as  much  oxygen  as  is  taken  by 


the  latter.  This  does  not  seem  to  be  the 
case  with  carbon,  the  atmospheric  propor- 
tion of  which  appears  to  have  slowly  de- 
creased ever  since  the  Carboniferous  era. 
At  that  time  the  quantity  of  carbonic  acid 
gas  in  the  atmosphere  was  probably  three 
hundred  times  greater  than  now,  holding  in 
combination  one  -  half  of  the  oxygen,  and 
forming  fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent,  of  the 
total  weight  of  the  air  (Brogniart  estimates 
seven  or  eight  per  cent.).  The  amount  of 
free  carbonic  acid  gas  has  diminished,  ap- 
proximately, at  the  rate  of  about  one  part 
in  five  thousand  each  century  since  then. 
In  this  respect,  therefore,  the  Northwestern 
fires  have  restored  the  atmospheric  condi- 
tions of  three  hundred  years  ago. 

A  glance  at  the  characteristics  of  the  Car- 
boniferous era  will  enable  us  to  appreciate 
the  importance  of  this  fact.  We  know  that 
if  we  replace  eight  per  cent,  of  the  oxygen 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  present  day  with 
an  equal  volume  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  the 
mixture  is  alike  fatal  to  animal  life  and  to 
combustion.  Even  the  lower  orders  of  an- 
imal life  could  only  exist  when  the  atmos- 
phere had  been  partially  cleared  of  its  su- 
perabundant carbon.  And  this  was  accom- 
plished by  the  vegetable  kingdom,  which 
then  flourished  with  a  luxuriance  of  which 
we  can  form  but  a  faint  conception,  though 
the  immense  coal  deposits  unearthed  in  the 
present  century  tell  the  tale  of  primeval 
vegetable  growth  proportionate  in  its  exu- 
berance to  the  abundant  presence  of  the 
acid  that  formed  its  food.  Further  along 
the  stream  of  time,  many  scores  of  thou- 
sands of  years  nearer  to  the  commencement 
of  our  written  history,  when  these  gigantic 
ferns  had  done  their  work  and  fixed  a  large 
proportion  of  that  carbon  into  the  shape  in 
which  it  is  now  utilized,  animal  existence 
became  possible,  and  the  same  conditions 
that  had  previously  ministered  to  immense 
vegetable  forms  now  made  possible  the 
elimination  of  a  mammoth  bony  framework 
to  support  the  muscular  tissues  of  animals, 
giant  -  like  even  as  compared  with  the  ele- 
phant of  our  own  day.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  human  race  appeared  upon  the 
earth  just  as  soon  as  human  -'respiration  be- 
came possible,  neither  can  there  be  any 
doubt  that  the  "  first  families  "  lived  in  what 
was  a  genuine  "Garden  of  Eden"  when 


SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES. 


compared  with  the  more  sparse  vegetation 
of  the  present  epoch,  or  that  the  peculiar 
facility  afforded  to  the  formation  of  carbo- 
nate of  lime  justified  the  assertion  of  Holy 
Writ,  that  "  There  were  giants  in  those 
days." 

The  abstraction  of  carbonic  acid  gas  from 
the  atmosphere  is  still  progressing,  though 
not  so  rapidly  as  in  the  days  of  yore.  Its 
appropriation  by  the  vitalized  forms  that 
exist  upon  the  land  surface  is  not  a  perma- 
nent loss,  as  all  thus  taken  away  from  the 
general  fund  by  the  one,  is  restored  by  the 
compensating  activities  of  another,  or  yield- 
ed up  in  the  disintegration  that  follows  the 
death  of  organic  forms.  But  it  is  not  so 
with  life  in  the  sea.  The  immense  quanti- 
ties of  carbonic  acid  taken  up  in  the  secre- 
tion of  the  bony  coverings  of  shell  fish, 
mostly  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean, 
where  they  lie  forever  undisturbed,  except 
when  upheaved  by  a  kypothalassic  volcano. 
At  the  immense  depths  to  which  they  sink 
there  is  no  wind,  no  current,  but  eternal 
stillness  reigns,  and  not  even  the  play  of 
organic  affinities  finds  room  to  operate ;  it 
is  even  more  than  the  stillness  of  death,  for 
there  no  disintegration  follows  the  departure 
of  the  vital  principle  from  its  material  en- 
casement. The  lower  coral  formations  are 
subject  to  but  little  more  disturbance. 

These  fishy  processes  diminish  the  amount 
of  carbonic  acid  in  the  atmosphere  at  the 
rate  of  about  four  million  tons  per  century. 
The  process  is,  however,  counteracted  to 
some  extent  by  the  tremendous  activity  of 
manufacturing  fires  within  the  past  few 
years.  Indeed,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
the  last  named  process  will  yet  attain  to  such 
a  magnitude  as  to  form  an  effectual  coun- 
terbalance to  the  secretory  powers  in  the 
restoration  of  carbonic  acid,  though  the 
compensation  may  not  be  effected  without  a 
decrease  in  the  relative  proportion  of  free 
oxygen  in  the  atmosphere. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  Northwestern  con- 
flagrations have  carried  us  back  to  nearly 
the  same  atmospheric  conditions  as  those 
which  existed  three  centuries  ago.  And 
this  brings  out  another  important  thought. 
We  see  that  in  the  history  of  the  past,  the 
elimination  of  carbonic  acid  from  the  at- 
mosphere has  been  accompanied  by  a  grad- 
ual development  of  animal  life,  and  an 


equally  gradual  retrocession  of  vegetable 
abundance.  While  the  vegetable  kingdom 
is  less  royal  in  its  proportions  than  in  the 
Carboniferous  era,  the  immense  interval  be- 
tween then  and  now  has  witnessed  the  up- 
growth of  all  the  animal  orders  above  the 
reptilian,  and  the  successive  development 
of  the  highest  order  —  man  —  from  a  state 
of  savage  ignorance  to  one  of  high  intel- 
lectual culture  and  moral  accountability. 
Knowing,  as  we  do,  the  intimate  physio- 
logical connection  of  the  mental  with  the 
physical,  in  man's  nature,  and  the  almost 
abject  dependence  of  that  physical  nature 
upon  its  surrounding  conditions  —  except 
those  of  temperature  —  we  can  scarcely 
resist  the  thought  that  the  progress  of  the 
race  towards  the  highest  limit  of  perfection 
attainable  by  humanity,  has  been  retarded 
not  less  than  three  centuries,  while  we  esti- 
mate that  the  commercial  status  of  the  city 
of  Chicago  has  been  set  back  barely  four 
years,  by  the  Great  Conflagration. 

Still  another  and  even  more  startling  idea 
suggests  itself  in  this  connection.  What  if 
these  fires  should  be  but  one  of  a  series  of 
events,  designed  by  the  Great  Ruler  of  the 
Universe,  to  prevent  man  from  progressing 
too  fast,  or  too  far,  in  his  forward  march 
towards  the  perfection  of  knowledge,  and 
of  that  power  which  knowledge  confers 
upon  its  possessor  ?  Our  study  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  past  teaches  us  nothing  more 
forcibly  that  this  one  fact :  that  all  the  na- 
tions whose  records  grace  prominently  the 
historical  page  down  to  a  few  centuries  ago, 
have  reached  an  ultimus  beyond  which  they 
could  not  pass,  and  have  relapsed  from  that 
point  into  insignificance  as  powers  and 
barbarism  as  peoples.  Whether  it  were 
the  red  hand. of  war,  the  plague-spot,  a 
change  in  the  beaten  track  of  commerce, 
or  the  upgrowth  of  a  luxurious  indolence 
that  gnawed  out  the  vitals  of  the  nation, 
some  cause  has  always  operated  to  break 
down  the  power  and  even  the  intelligence 
of  peoples.  And  the  records  of  history 
show  that  this  grand  reversal  has  occurred 
at  least  twice  all  over  the  civilized  world, 
while  the  analogies  of  reasoning  tend  to 
the  same  conclusion,  with  geological  deduc- 
tions, that  the  world  as  a  whole  is  not  ex- 
empt from  the  providential  visitation  which 
sweeps  out  of  existence  the  accumulated 


SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES. 


93 


learning  as  well  as  the  treasures  of  the  past, 
and  leaves  the  race  to  begin  again  at  the 
foot  of  the  ladder  up  which  it  had  toiled  so 
painfully  before.  If  we  may  be  allowed  to 
represent  absolute  perfection  by  the  recti- 
lineal asymptote  of  the  hyperbola,  then  the 
curve  may  be  assumed  as  the  path  of  hu- 
manity towards  that  perfection.  If  undis- 
turbed the  motion  along  the  curve  would 
never  meet  the  line.  But  even  this  motion 
is  not  permitted  to  poor  humanity,  which, 
like  the  comet  that  attempts  to  describe  the 
hyperbolic  course,  is  ever  and  anon  subject 
to  perturbations  that  destroy  the  old  orbit 
and  force  the  wanderer  to  seek  out  a  new 
path  in  the  regions  of  space. 

And,  so,  it  is  not  impossible,  that  while 
the  occurrence  of  the  Northwestern  fires  has 
furnished  to  the  atmosphere  a  superabund- 
ance of  carbonic  acid  that  will  stimulate  the 
vegetable  world  to  increased  activity  to 
supply  the  place  of  that  destroyed,  the  ani- 
mal creation  will  retrogress,  and  man  may 
fall  back  into  the  mental  conditions  of  the 
Reformation  period  and  reproduce  the  then 
exceptional  intellectual  splendors  of  Bacon 
and  Shakespeare. 

A  recollection  of  the  fact  that  large  quan- 
tities of  carbonic  acid  gas  were  generated 
by  the  fire,  will  enable  us  to  understand 
how  very  many  individuals  dropped  down 
dead  near  the  scenes  of  the  conflagration, 
and  were  afterwards  found  without  the 
least  trace  of  fire  upon  the  clothing  or  per- 
son. We  have  already  stated  that  eight 
per  cent,  of  this  gas  in  the  atmosphere  is 
fatal  to  life.  It  would  be  generated  in  fully 
this  proportion  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
flames,  and  would  thence  spread  slowly 
through  the  air  over  the  whole  surface  of 
the  earth.  The  amount  of  carbonic  acid 
gas  evolved  by  these  fires  would  suffice  to 
saturate  the  air  in  the  locality  to  the  height 
of  nearly  fifty  yards  irom  the  ground. 

But  other  and  veiy  important  chemical 
changes  were  involved  in  these  wide  •  spread 
conflagrations.  Everyone  has  read,  if  he 
did  not  himself  pass  through  the  horrible 
experience,  how  the  very  air  itself  seemed 
full  of  fire,  how  the  flames  seemed  to  take 
giant  leaps  of  many  hundreds  of  yards, 
breaking  out  in  points  far  away  from  die 
scenes  of  the  general  disaster,  and  how 
huge  balloon  masses  of  flame  swept  through 


the  sky,  to  descend  and  break  like  a  burn- 
ing (water)  spout,  licking  up  every  vestige 
of  human  life  and  labor  from  open  clearings 
to  which  many  had  fled  as  to  a  haven  of 
safety.  These  undoubted  facts  have  been 
ascribed  to  "electricity" — the  agent  to 
which  every  mystery  is  generally  referred 
when  we  fail  to  assign  any  other  cause.  It 
is  true  that  electric  forces  were  vividly  at 
work  during  that  terrible  turmoil  of  the  ele- 
ments; for  we  know  that  no  chemical 
change  can  occur  without  the  evolution  of 
electrical  energy.  But  the  electricity,  itself, 
was  only  a  phenomenon,  resulting  from  the 
formation  of  other  chemical  compounds 
than  the  one  above  referred  to. 

Immense  quantities  of  water  were  licked 
up  by  the  flames,  both  in  city  and  country, 
and  converted  into  superheated  vapor.  At 
this  point  the  chemical  affinities  of  its  con- 
stituent gases  for  each  other  were  over- 
come by  the  omnipresent  carbon,  three 
pounds  of  which  combined  with  every 
pound  weight  of  hydrogen  to  form  what  is 
known  as  light  carburetted  hydrogen,  while 
the  released  oxygen  combined  with  other 
portions  of  carbon  to  form  carbonic  acid. 
This  carburetted  hydrogen  is  the  terror  of 
the  coal  miner,  forming  explosive  mixtures 
with  the  ordinary  air  of  the  coal  pit.  •  It  is 
also  known  as  marsh  gas,  being  produced 
by  the  putrefaction  of  vegetable  matter  un- 
der water  and  mud.  The  volume  of  this 
gas  was  largely  supplemented  in  the  city  by 
the  coal  gas  that  escaped  from  the  retorts 
and  the  supply  pipes.  This  was  the  mate- 
rial that,  mingling  with  the  ordinary  air, 
changed  it  into  a  perfect  atmosphere  of  fire, 
through  which  the  intangible  flames  could 
leap,  like  the  lightning  flash,  from  one  point 
to  another  far  distant.  Here  was  the  sub- 
stance of  those  mysterious  balloon  masses ; 
they  were  aggregations  of  this  gas  which 
could  not  burn  where  they  originated,  owing 
to  a  lack  of  oxygen,  which  had  been  already 
sucked  out  from  the  air  by  the  incandes- 
cent carbon.  These  masses  swept  along 
till  they  met  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
fresh  oxygen  to  satisfy  their  inanimate 
craving  to  be  reduced  back  to  carbonic 
acid  and  water.  That  condition  fulfilled, 
the  change  was  at  once  effected,  and  in 
the  process  the  devastating  flames  were 
kindled  afresh  in  hundreds  of  places  so 


94 


SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES. 


far  removed  from  the  previous  locality  of 
the  fire  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  havoc  could 
only  have  been  wrought  by  the  torch  of  the 
destroying  angel. 

And  this  hydrogenateo.  atmosphere  min- 
istered to  the  further  spread  of  the  devour- 
ing element  in  still  another  way.  The 
millions  of  blazing  fire  -  brands  that  were 
borne  mechanically  on  the  wings  of  the  gale 
would  have  died  out  in  an  ordinary  condi- 
tion of  the  atmosphere,  before  they  fell. 
But  after  the  fire  had  divorced  large  quan- 
tities of  hydrogen  from  its  aqueous  matri- 
mony, these  brands  met  with  fresh  fuel  in 
every  yard  of  their  course,  and  set  on  fire 
the  hydrogen  through  which  they  passed, 
giving  rise  to  lurid  lines  of  light  that  resem- 
bled the  path  of  a  mammoth  aerolite. 
Hence  they  bore  the  death  warrant  to  thou- 
sands of  structures  that  would  have  escaped 
if  they  had  been  evolved  by  a  fire  of  ordi- 
nary magnitude. "  The  burning  missiles  that 
tell  thick  and  fast  on  the  crib,  two  miles 
out  in  the  lake,  proved  that  they  had  come 
through  an  atmosphere  highly  charged  with 
carburetted  hydrogen. 

Space  will  not  permit  a  notice  of  all  the 
chemical  derangements  produced  by  these 
fires.  Among  the  more  important  of  those 
not  already  mentioned  is  the  formation  of 
considerable  quantities  of  ammonia,  by  the 
union  of  portions  of  this  liberated  hydrogen 
with  the  highly  heated  nitrogen  of  the  at- 
mosphere. Much  of  this  ammonia  will 
return  to  the  soil  to  stimulate  the  growth  ol 
vegetable  matter,  and  repair  the  waste.  But 
no  inconsiderable  percentage  of  the  whole 
united  with  carbon,  to  form  the  carbonates 
of  ammonia,  or  became  oxygenated,  more 
slowly,  evolving  an  abundance  of  ni- 
tric acid.  The  latter  gave  rise  to  the  pecu- 
liar odor  experienced  after  the  fire,  which 
was  remarked  by  many  as  identical  with 
that  noticed  after  a  severe  thunder  storm, 
and  is  now  known  to  be  due  to  the  forma- 
tion of  nitric  acid  in  the  air. 

The  relative  powers  of  the  atomic  and 
molecular  affinities  vary  with  a  change  in 
temperature  —  a  fact  which  the  writer  dis- 
cussed, two  years  ago,  at  considerable 
length,  as  revealing  to  us  a  glimpse  ot  the 
constitution  of  matter.  The  chemist  takes 
advantage  ol  this,  and  fire  has  always  been 
his  most  efficient  aid  in  working  out  his 


transformations  of  material  substantives. 
Here  we  have  the  same  agent  operating  on 
a  gigantic  scale,  in  the  great  laboratory  of 
Nature,  and  working  out  results,  the  mag- 
nitude of  which  are  almost  too  vast  for 
contemplation.  But  this  power  acted  equally 
in  obedience  to  natural  law  when  raging 
over  hundreds  of  miles,  as  when  manipu- 
lated in  the  chemist's  furnace,  and  assumed 
the  function  of  teacher  even  while  laughing 
to  scorn  the  puny  efforts  of  man  to  control 
it.  The  fire  has  really  taught  us  many  val- 
uable lessons,  and  not  the  least  useful  of 
these  to  our  future  welfare,  is  that  convey- 
ing a  knowledge  of  wonderful  chemical 
changes,  which  when  in  progress  perchance 
excited  to  wonder  the  far  off  inhabitants  of 
the  planets  Venus  and  Mars. 

We  may  refer  briefly  to  the  more  local, 
but  still  extensive,  effects  of  the  fire,  upon 
the  meteorological  conditions  of  the  coun- 
try devastated.  It  has  long  been  regarded 
as  axiomatic  that  the  destruction  of  timber 
and  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  diminish  the 
annual  rain  supply,  and  also  produce  chan- 
ges in  the  temperature.  This  is  not  wholly 
true.  The  ploughing  of  the  ground  undoubt- 
edly lessens  the  amount  of  water  that  drains 
into  the  rivers,  but  it  is  only  because  the 
loosening  of  the  soil  permits  a  greater  pro- 
portion of  the  rainfall  to  soak  in,  instead 
of  running  off  to  feed  the  water  courses. 
There  is,  however,  the  best  of  reason  to 
believe  that  the  presence  or  absence  of  trees 
has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  quantity  of 
water  that  falls  from  the  clouds,  and  so  much 
that  we  may  expect  the  denudation  of  so 
much  timber  land  to  be  marked  by  a  dimi- 
nution of  not  less  than  two  inches,  or  seven 
per  cent,  of  the  annual  rainfall  over  a  large 
section  of  the  Northwest,  while  the  yearly 
range  of  temperature  will  be  widened  fully 
five  degrees,  the  thermometer  registering 
two  or  three  degrees  higher  in  summer  and 
lower  m  winter  than  heretofore. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  proba- 
bility that  these  fires  were  part  ol  a  section 
in  the  Providential  plan  of  earth  govern- 
ment. While  we  cannot  accept  the  doc 
trine  that  they  were  sent  either  as  a  punish- 
ment to  the  people  of  one  section,  or  as  a 
benefit  to  those  of  another,  we  must  recog- 
nize them  as  links  in  the  great  chain  of 
events,  each  of  which  is  an  effect  of  some 


SCIENCE  OF  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FIRES 


95 


cause,  and  a  producing  cause  of  some  sub- 
sequent effect.  And  the  same  philosophy 
teaches  us  that  no  effect  can  be  greater  than 
its  cause,  or  combined  causes.  Hence  it  is 
absurd  to  look  to  the  mere  upsetting  of  a 
Kerosene  lamp  in  the  city,  or  the  emptying 
of  burning  tobacco  from  a  laborer's  pipe  in 
the  woods,  as  the  efficient  causes  of  these 
wide-spread  disasters.  These  were  the  mere 
incitements  —  like  the  knocking  of  a  chip 
from  the  shoulders  of  a  man  who  is  spoil- 
ing for  a  fight. 

That  Chicago  was  "  favorably  "  situated 
and  constructed  for  just  such  a  fire,  none 
will  deny  who  remember  that  she  presented 
a  four  •  mile  line  of  wooden  buildings  di- 
rectly along  the  path  of  the  southwest  gale 
so  common  in  this  region.  But  the  forests 
per  se,  presented  no  more  unfavorable  con- 
ditions than  in  years  past;  yet  they,  too, 
were  licked  up  by  the  all  -  devouring  flames. 

The  proximate  cause  of  the  conflagrations 
is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  country  was  . 
unusually  dry.  One  and  a  half  inches  of 
rain  fell  in  Chicago  on  the  3d  of  July,  but 
from  that  date  to  the  time  of  the  fire,  on 
the  Qth  of  October,  only  two  and  a  half 
inches  fell,  whereas  the  quantity  falling  in 
that  time  had  averaged  eight  and  three  quar- 
ter inches  in  former  years.  The  rainfall  of 
the  summer  season  was  only  twenty  -  eight 
and  one  -  half  per  cent,  of  the  average  in 
Chicago ;  while  in  the  lumber  districts  it 
was  fully  twenty  per  cent,  less  than  even 
this  parsimonious  allowance  from  the  clouds. 
Meanwhile  a  hot  summer's  sun  had  dried 
out  every  particle  of  the  "  water  of  crystal- 
lization," as  the  chemists  will  perhaps  par 
don  us  for  calling  it,  and  left  the  whole  as 
dry  as  so  much  tinder.  All  that  it  wanted 
was  an  opportunity  to  burn,  and  that  want 
was  soon  supplied.  Thenceforward  the  fire 
and  the  gale  had  free  course,  "  with  none 
to  let  or  hinder." 

But  this  was  evidently  only  a  proximate 
cause.  There  was  some  other  cause  ante- 
cedent to  this ;  we  are  long  past  the  day 
when  storms  of  wind  or  rain  are  regarded 
as  mere  accidents. 

If  the  reader  preserves  an  unburned  copy 
of  THE  LAKESIDE,  August,  1870,  he  (or 

she)  will  find  the  cause  set  forth  in  an  article 
headed  "  Sun  Spots,  and  their  Lessons." 
In  that  article  we  gave  the  following  as  the 


consequences  of  the  obscuration  of  a  large 
part  of  the  sun's  visible  surface  by  dark 
spots,  which  have  been  fully  as  numerous 
in  1871  as  at  the  time  that  sketch  was  writ- 
ten: 

First  —  A  reduction  of  two  degrees  in 
the  amount  of  heat  supplied  to  the  earth  by 
the  sun  (to  the  whole  globe  of  atmosphere, 
water,  and  land,)  corresponding  to  the 
lessened  area  of  calorifying  sun  surface. 
Second  —  A  diminution  in  the  amount  of 
water  taken  up  by  the  sun  from  ocean  and 
land  (principally  from  the  sea),  owing  to  the 
diminished  evaporating  power  of  the  sun ; 
and  a  decrease  of  fully  four  inches  in  the 
annual  rainfall.  Third  —  Greater  sensible 
heat  at  many  points  on  the  land  surface,  and 
a  very  irregular  register  of  temperature; 
because  a  large  proportion  of  the  heat  sup- 
plied by  the  sun  is  rendered  latent  by  the 
evaporation  of  the  water  that  falls  as  rain 
upon  the  earth's  surface.  Fourth  —  An  in- 
crease in  the  amount  of  chemical  activity, 
both  in  combination  and  decomposition,  a 
greater  display  of  electric  and  magnetic 
phenomena  (hence  unusual  irregularities  in 
temperature) ;  a  more  rapid  growth  of  veg- 
etation (but)  partial  crop  failures,  etc. 

These  articles  were  widely  copied  into 
the  journals  of  the  United  States  and  of 
Europe,  and  received  marked  attention  from 
the  scientific  men  of  the  day.  That  every 
one  of  the  deductions  then  made  was  accu- 
rately verified,  not  only  in  Chicago  but  all 
over  the  world,  is  now  matter  of  history. 
Of  course,  local  peculiarities  of  position, 
etc.,  caused  many  variations  from  the  aver- 
age; but,  as  applied  to  the  whole  globe, 
the  theory  has  precisely  agreed  with  the 
facts.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore, 
that  the  very  strongly  marked  deviations 
from  the  average  rainfall,  both  the  general 
deficiency  and  the  excessive  floods  in  some 
localities,  have  their  general  cause  in  the 
fact  that  a  greater  portion  of  the  sun's  disk 
has  been  obscured  by  black  spots  during 
1870  and  a  part  of  1871,  than  at  any  other 
time  for  a  hundred  years  past. 

The  black  patches  on  the  face  of  the 
sun,  too  remote  to  be  visible  without  the 
aid  of  a  telescope,  though  sometimes  cover- 
ing several  milions  of  square  miles  of  its 
surface,  have  for  some  years  been  recog- 
nized by  meterologists  as  potential  in  pro- 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  OF  THE  FIRE. 


ducing  magnetic  storms  and  auroral  dis- 
plays on  the  earth.  It  is  but  a  step  further 
in  the  same  reasoning  process  to  arrive  at  a 
point  where  we  can  look  upon  them  as 
causes  of  greater  change  in  the  meteor- 


ological conditions  of  our  earth,  and  as  in 
fluencing  materially  those  circumstances  on 
which  its  inhabitants  depend  for  the  con- 
servation of  the  order  of  things  under 
which  they  live  and  move. 

Elias  Colbert. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  OF  THE  FIRE. 


WE  have  space   for   only  one  set  of 
economic    considerations,   that   of 
the  distribution   of  losses ;    and   over  this 
narrow  field  we  must  pass  rapidly. 

It  is  desirable  to  have  some  accurate  es- 
timate of  the  amount  of  loss  in  property 
burned  up ;  but  we  must  content  ourselves 
for  the  present  with  an  approximate  esti- 
mate —  perhaps  we  shall  never  have 
severely  accurate  tables ;  and  for  the  pur- 
poses of  th's  paper  no  figures  are  required. 
We  omit  our  own  calculations,  remarking 
that  the  tables  already  published  are  a  new 
proof  that  hyperbole  is  the  favorite  figure  in 
the  rhetoric  of  this  great  people. 

The  loss  sustained  by  the  destruction  of 
houses,  stores,  machinery,  goods,  etc.,  is  a 
dead  loss ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  labor  con- 
sumed which  must  be  replaced  by  other 
labor.  In  other  words,  this  property  must 
be  restored  by  lalx>r  which  would  have 
been  devoted  to  the  production  of  new 
property.  All  the  kinds  of  property 
enumerated  were  surplus  earnings  of  indus- 
try, and  other  surplus  earnings  of  industry 
must  fill  the  place  made  empty. 

The  truth  of  this  statement  is  disguised 
by  the  fact  that  there  are  losses  not  yet 
mentioned,  which  are  in  fact  compensated 
by  the  beneficence  of  natural  laws ;  such 
as  rental  values  of  houses  burned,  and 
other  losses  which  are  mere  transfers  of 
Toperty.  The  burning  of  a  bank  •  note  is 
01"  the  last  character.  The  bank  is  so  much 
richer,  and  the  last  holder  of  the  note  is  so 
much  poorer.  Society  at  large  is  not  a 
loser  to  the  amount  of  one  cent.  Treas 
ury  notes  burned  in  the  Custom  House  are 
not  even  a  loss  of  this  personal  character ; 
for  there  is  no  transfer.  Th^  fire  did  for 
the  Government  what  a  prudent  man  does 
for  himself  when  his  notes  come  into  his 
possession. 


There  are  still  other  losses  which  are 
something  worse  than  a  dead  loss  -,  such  are 
the  public  records,  the  scientific  collections, 
the  choice  books,  pictures,  and  heirlooms. 

We  confine  our  view,  for  obvious  rea- 
sons, to  that  part  of  our  losses,  the  smaller 
part  probably,  which  has  direct  and  plain 
relations  with  production,  which  can  be  re- 
placed only  by  labor  subtracted  from  ad- 
vancing accumulation. 

How  else  can  it  be  replaced  ?  Were  the 
mechanics  who  rebuild  our  houses  unem- 
ployed ?  Were  there  no  uses  for  the  lum- 
ber, iron,  stone,  brick,  which  compose  the 
new  city?  It  is  believed  that  the  ptopor 
tion  of  unemployed  labor  and  of  unused 
materials  is  too  small  to  be  seriously  con 
sidered.  The  apparent  gain  at  these  points 
is  greater  in  appearance  because  we  easily 
forget  all  the  loss  of  activity  in  building  in 
other  cities  and  villages.  Such  labor  as 
enters  into  houses  has  not  been  a  drug  in 
this  country  for  a  long  time,  and  there  was 
no  reason  to  apprehend  a  glut  of  it  when 
this  calamity  came.  The  rebuilding  of 
Chicago  will  partially  arrest  building  over 
a  wide  area,  and  the  labor  expended  here 
to  repair  this  loss  will  be  subtracted  from 
other  production  all  over  the  nation. 

Some  minds,  incapable  of  general  ob- 
servation, are  struck  by  the  concentration 
of  industry  upon  one  point ;  by  the  impetus 
given  to  those  kinds  of  production  which 
go  to  fill  this  fire  made  void.  But  if  there 
be  no  real  loss,  if  the  concentration  be 
really  new  energy  set  going  by  the  calamity, 
the  matter  ought  to  be  capable  of  practical 
illustration.  Burn  down  Mr.  Smith's  mill, 
and  you  will  see,  if  Mr.  Smith  be  enter 
prising,  the  same  new  activity  about  the 
ruins  of  the  mill.  But  Mr.  Smith  knows 
perfectly  well  that  he  loses  whatever  it  costs 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  OF  THE  FIRE. 


97 


him  to  restore  his  mill  to  its  former  condi- 
tion. He  really  loses  more;  that  is,  the  net 
earnings  of  his  mill  during  the  time  occu- 
pied in  rebuilding.  In  Chicago,  I  have 
supposed  that  this  loss  may  be  compensated 
in  various  ways;  but  it  is  a  piece  of  men- 
tal weakness  to  deny  that  what  is  true  in 
detail  is  true  in  general,  that  what  belongs 
to  each  of  the  parts  belongs  to  the  whole. 

The  fire  creates  a  vacuum  which  is  filled 
by  the  inflow  of  surplus  earnings  of  labor 
from  other  portions  of  the  country,  and  the 
general  level  of  wealth  is  by  just  so  much 
reduced. 

This  loss  is  very  cunningly  distributed 
by  natural  laws,  or  their  resultant,  the  ma- 
chinery of  civilization.  In  such  a  society 
as  ours,  no  man's  dead  losses  can  be  alto- 
gether his  own.  Taxes  of  many  sorts  will 
be  shifted  from  him  to  others,  and  in  most 
cases  his  neighbors  will  suffer  even  more 
•lirectly. 

In  so  far  as  a  fire  loss  is  covered  by  in- 
surance, it  has  been  distributed  in  advance 
by  a  very  fine  piece  of  social  machinery. 
Fire  insurance  is  one  of  the  best  imple- 
ments of  a  thriftful  civilization.  It  dimin- 
ishes the  shock  of  a  great  loss  by  diffusing 
it  through  a  large  body ;  it  makes  individual 
losses  public  ones  by  applying  to  their  cure 
a  cunning  system  of  taxation.  Fire  insu- 
rance is  not  yet  so  perfected  that  all  its  ob- 
vious utilities  are  realized  in  such  a  case  as 
the  Chicago  fire  presents.  It  shares  with 
other  beneficent  institutions  in  defects 
caused  by  the  moral  disorders  of  the  world 
and  the  imperfect  enlightenment  of  man 
kind. 

In  our  case,  too,  especially  humiliating 
defects  of  system  and  detail  have  been  de- 
veloped by  our  calamity.  But  it  is  no  light 
thing  that  nearly  one  -  fifth  of  our  dead  loss 
is  taken  up  and  distributed  by  the  instru- 
ment called  insurance.  No  other  human 
contrivance  does  so  much  for  us ;  and  none 
performs  its  labor  with  so  little  strain  upon 
the  general  welfare.  Accumulations  set 
apart  for  this  very  purpose  furnish  in  most 
cases  the  sums  paid  to  policy-holders,  and 
large  sums  are  drawn  from  England,  so 
widely  does  insurance  distribution  range 
over  the  field  of  production.  In  a  good 
system  of  insurance,  a  loss,  however  large, 
would  draw  upon  accumulations.  Dis- 
7 


tribution  of  losses  by  drafts  upon  current 
industry  robs  insurance  of  its  chief  value 
to  society,  and  discounts  its  value  to  the 
sufferers  by  fire.  For,  to  whatever  extent 
.  such  distribution  disorders  trade  and  indus- 
try, or  puts  strain  upon  them,  he  who  re- 
ceives the  compensation  receives  less  than 
his  contract  calls  for  —  is  involved  in  a 
general  distress  produced  by  the  effort  to 
relieve  him  and  others.  The  large  losses 
of  a  large  fire  —  in  so  far  as  they  can  be 
provided  for  by  a  good  system  of  insurance 
—  ought  to  be  covered  by  the  sale  of  pub- 
lic evidences  of  indebtedness  which  have  a 
steady  value  in  the  markets  of  the  world, 
wherein  the  unexpected  sale  of  a  few  mill- 
ions of  this  kind  of  property  involves  no 
general  confusion. 

Some  excuse  for  current  failures  is  found 
in  the  indorsement  given  by  public  opinion 
to  other  and  less  safe  systems ;  but  it  ought 
not  to  be  possible  to  plead  again  that  a 
great  fire  is  very  unusual.  Insurance  may 
just  as  well  be  sound,  safe,  and  faithful  to 
its  engagements ;  nothing  but  a  sprinkling 
of  good  sense  is  needed  in  the  premises. 

A  much  less  pleasant  form  of  distribu- 
tion of  such  a  loss  as  that  caused  by  the 
Chicago  fire  is  effected  by  credit.  The 
ruined  men  are  those  who  were  in  debt, 
and  their  creditors,  scattered  over  a  wide 
area,  become  victims  of  the  catastrophe  in 
Chicago.  It  is  hoped  that  the  catalogue  of 
ruined  men  is  a  short  one;  Ixit  a  good 
many  will  probably  escape  ruin  by  com- 
pounding with  alarmed  creditors.  It  would 
be  a  strange  phenomenon  if  there  were  few 
men  easy  enough  of  conscience  to  maintain 
themselves  in  their  old  places  by  drafts 
upon  the  fears  of  their  creditors.  Instances 
of  this  artifice  have  become  so  common  in 
some  branches  of  trade  as  to  discredit  the 
trade  itself. 

In  these  cases  the  settlements  are  made 
so  privately  —  secrecy  being  on  one  side  a 
necessary  part  of  the  contract  —  that  the 
nearest  neighbors  of  the  defaulting  mer- 
chant never  hear  of  the  failure.  Many  a 
dry  goods  merchant  pursues  his  trade  for 
years,  living  in  the  best  style  of  his  town, 
leading  in  his  church  and  in  local  benevo- 
lence, whose  flowing  phylacteries  are  kept 
m  ample  spread  by  periodical  settlements, 
of  a  most  private  character,  at  New  York 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  OF  THE  FIRE. 


or  Chicago,  of  accumulated  debts  for  goods, 
at  rates  varying  from  twenty-five  to  fifty 
cents  upon  the  dollar.  It  is  probable  that 
Chicago  business  morality  —  good  accord- 
ing to  the  standards  of  the  time  —  has  not 
been  found  free  from  the  stain  of  these 
shameful  proceedings. 

In  other  cases,  creditors  suffer  losses  with 
no  diminution  of  honor  to  the  debtor.  He 
cannot  pay,  he  has  business  ability  and  is  a 
capitally  good  customer.  Delays  of  pay- 
ment enable  him  to  proceed,  and  the  creditor 
professes  in  all  good  form  and  all  sincerity 
not  to  lose  because  he  hopes  to  be  paid ; 
but  he  in  reality  parts  with  a  portion  of  his 
capital  to  another  man  upon  whose  success 
in  a  new  business  the  hope  of  repayment 
rests.  It  is  a  loan,  and  therefore  honorable ; 
it  is  a  forced  loan,  compelled  by  certain 
business  amenities,  made  at  a  direct  and 
certain  disadvantage,  and  therefore  a  loss 
borne,  however  cheerfully,  by  the  creditor. 
All  unexpected  credits  for  new  goods  come 
under  the  same  rule.  The  Eastern  mer- 
chants impair  their  own  facilities  and  means 
in  order  to  maintain  some  of  their  Chicago 
customers.  All  points  considered,  this  in- 
cident is  creditable  to  trade  in  general ;  it 
refutes  some  theories  of  the  hardening 
effects  of  commercial  life  upon  human  na- 
ture. 

There  are  other  forms  of  credit  distribu- 
tion which  might,  in  a  longer  article,  de- 
serve special  mention.  The  foregoing  may 
render  probably  approximate  our  conjecture 
that  ten  millions  of  the  Chicago  losses  are 
through  credit  shifted  from  the  shoulders  of 
direct  sufferers  by  the  fire. 

It  is  in  place  to  observe  that  in  so  far  as 
capital  is  brought  from  abroad  into  Chicago, 
either  in  the  form  of  goods  or  money,  this 
transfer  ot  capital  is  a  means  not  only  of 
distributing  certain  per  cents  of  dead  loss, 
but  also  for  putting  oft  for  the  time  being 
the  perception  or  realizing  of  loss  at  this 
point.  This  is  of  very  great  importance,  be- 
cause it  is  likely  to  disguise  to  ourselves 
the  share  which  remains  for  us  to  bear. 
By  new  profits  and  savings  we  shall  gradu- 
ally extinguish  these  new  debts,  and  by  dis 
tributing  our  payments  lose  consciousness 
of  our  losses.  The  men  who  borrow  and 
pay  will  not  be  deceived ;  but  the  delight- 
ful being  who  revels  in  "general  aspects" 


will  duly  report  nis  impression  that  there 
has  been  no  loss  whatever,  because  the 
brave  shows  of  prosperity  go  on  —  upon 
borrowed  capital.  Now  it  is  no  light  thing, 
no  small  credit  to  civilization,  that  it  is 
possible  to  distribute  in  this  mode  the  losses 
of  Chicago,  those  which  remain  for  Chicago 
to  pay.  It  is  well  too  that  Chicago  has 
such  munificence  of  opportunity  and  such 
energy  of  character,  that  she  can  pay  large 
interests  and  principal  too.  "  We  want 
only  time,"  on  the  lips  of  our  business  men, 
means  much  in  its  personal  sense,  more 
still  in  the  deeper  and  wider  significance 
which  makes  us  believe  it.  An  immense 
capital  lies  in  the  opportunities  which  open 
before  us  and  ^the  experience  which  we 
bring  to  our  new  work. 

Still,  it  cannot  come  to  good  that  we  in 
any  way  disguise  from  ourselves  that  when 
all  deductions  are  made  a  large  per  cent,  of 
our  loss  falls  on- ourselves.  Happy  for  us 
that  we  can  pay  it  gradually;  that  credit 
tides  us  over  the  shoals  and  provides  us 
with  means  to  use  our  great  advantages. 

Charity  has  also  proved  in  this  instance 
a  great  distributor  of  losses.  Its  field  is 
mainly  that  area  of  loss  upon  which  we  do 
not  now  venture :  tlie  rental  values  and  the 
wages  or  profits  of  suspended  industry. 
But  Charity  has  turned  political  economist 
in  this  instance,  and  to  some  extent  acts 
upon  the  area  of  dead  loss. 

The  comfort  of  her  laborers  has  been  a 
just  pride  of  Chicago.  It  was  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  large  hearts  and  clear  heads 
of  the  Relief  Committee  should  instinctively 
recur  to  that  condition  of  health,  independ- 
ence, and  hopefulness,  which  had  been  so 
marked  a  feature  of  humble  life  among  us. 

It  seemed  an  inspiration  of  genius  to  seize 
the  occasion  to  make  Charity  extend  her 
healing  offices  in  the  direction  of  this  same 
independent  condition  of  labor.  It  was  at 
once  the  cheapest  charity  and  the  wisest 
public  economy,  to  aid  the  poor  to  rebuild 
some  of  those  humble  homes  which  in  Chi- 
cago stand  in  the  place  of  the  tenement 
barracks  of  older  cities.  And  to  such  ex- 
tent as  these  restorations  are  promoted  by 
the  Relief  Committee,  Charity  distributes 
the  dead  loss  of  this  calamity  over  the 
world.  Among  the  millions,  this  item  will 
seem  small  in  arithmetic;  but  is  very  large 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  OF  THE  FIRE. 


99 


in  its  relations  to  future  production.  A 
million  of  dollars  so  invested  would  be  the 
banner  million  in  a  record  of  profits  made 
up  ten  years  from  now.  It  will  save  fami- 
lies from  pauperism  and  crime,  and  make 
them  producers  and  consumers.  It  saves 
taxation,  reduces  claims  upon  benevolence, 
recreates  workmen,  makes  markets  for 
goods,  and  maintains  a  system  of  artisan 
life  which  is  the  most  hopeful  in  the  world. 

We  believe  that  the  Relief  Committee  has 
never  advocated  any  of  the  patent  nostrums 
for  curing  labor  of  poverty  and  other  wrongs ; 
but  it  has  in  this  movement  done  the  one 
only  scientific  'hing  to  be  done  in  the  prem- 
ises. The  laborer's  best  hold  on  good 
wages  is  in  habits  of  comfortable  living. 
To  promote  that,  is  wor.h  more  than  a  vol- 
ume of  eight  -  hour  statutes,  or  a  prairie  full 
of  international  •  labor  -  reform  conventions. 

1 1  is  too  much  forgotten  that  cost  of  pro- 
duction enters  into  the  labor  problem  in  an 
imperial  form.  Tlie  cost  of  maintaining 
laborers,  as;  well  as  of  growing  them,  is  al- 
together a  question  of  the  modes  and  habits 
of  living  prevailing  among  the  humble 
classes  of  a  country.  Wherever  laborers 
are  "  raised  "  and  subsist  upon  potatoes  and 
cold  water,  labor  will  receive  low  wages; 
wages  will  certainly  be  higher  whenever 
beef  and  coffee  are  substituted  for  potatoes. 
A  laborer  who  grew  in  a  straw  -  covered 
hovel,  or  one  corner  of  a  basement,  and  is 
growing  a  family  in  the  same  style,  cannot 
be  well  paid.  Nor  can  he  be  ill  paid  if  he 
live  in  Ins  own  house  and  have  a  fair  ap- 
preciation of  the  decencies  of  life.  It  works 
in  two  ways.  The  laborer  can  endure  loss 
of  a  day  now  and  then  —  perhaps  has  a  bit 
of  garden  upon  which  he  can  lay  out  such 
a  day  —  and  such  a  laborer  cannot  be  put 
upon  any  labor  market  for  less  money  than 
good  wages.  It  costs,  to  produce  him,  the 
capital  for  high  rate  of  wages,  and  it  would 
cost  that  to  supply  his  place. 

Absentee  ownership  is  also  to  some  ex- 
tent a  distributor  of  these  losses.  The 
resident  of  another  city  who  owned  prop- 
erty burned  in  Chicago  is  in  a  position 
somewhat  similar  to  that  of  a  foreign  in- 
surance company.  The  entanglements  . 
and  all  other  incidents  of  his  loss  fall  upon 
other  communities. 

The   railway  companies  and   all   other 


corporations  having  non  •  resident  stock- 
holders also  distribute  losses  which  fall 
upon  such  corporations. 

That  form  of  distribution  which  is  called 
taxation  ought  not  to  be  overlooked.  It 
is  operative  over  the  whole  nation,  in  the 
Custom -House  and  other  public  property 
of  the  nation ;  over  the  State  to  a  less  ex- 
tent, falling  with  most  force  upon  the  coun- 
ty, which  is  scarcely  distinguishable  from 
the  city  for  this  purpose.  But  benefits  of 
an  unexpected  character  result  from  city 
and  county  distribution  of  loss  by  taxation. 
Many  suffer  no  loss  and  some  gain  by  the 
fire.  Taxation  should  be  so  modified  as  to 
throw  all  such  losses  as  are  repaired  by 
local  taxation  upon  those  who  have  in 
place  of  those  who  had  property. 

These  are  by  no  means  all  the  ways  in 
which  the  loss  by  our  fire  is  distributed. 
In  the  language  of  "  The  Nation,"  "  it  was 
not  the  savings  of  the  people  of  Chicago 
only  which  were  destroyed,  but  the  savings 
of  at  least  as  many  more,  who  never  come 
within  a  thousand  miles  of  it,  and  with 
their  savings  nearly  everything  that  made 
life  sweet.  ,  .  .  The  fortunes  of  the 
whole  race  are  being  so  closely  linked  to- 
gether by  science  that  there  is  nobody, 
from  the  hod  •  carrier  up  to  the  millionaire, 
who  may  not,  any  morning,  read  in  the 
paper  news  from  the  uttermost  end«  of  the 
earth,  depriving  him  of  his  fortune  or  his 
daily  bread  " 

The  political  economist  finds  in  such 
facts  new  reasons  for  hopefulness  and  also 
for  apprehension.  He  is  stimulated  to  in- 
creased confidence  in  the  wholesomeness 
of  the  natural  laws  of  society,  to  new  fear 
of  the  consequences  of  their  disobedience. 
1  We  cannot  forget  that  bad  men,  and 
careless  good  men,  are  not  restrained 
from  careless  handling  of  great  social  con- 
cernments by  the  magnitude  and  range  of 
the  perils  they  thus  invite ,  and  when  fools 
abound  it  is  not  cheerful  to  feel  that  any 
one  of  them  may  put  us  all  to  grief  by  one 
careless  action  or  one  piece  of  negligence. 

The  effect  of  the  sudden  destruction  of  a 
great  mart  of  wealth  upon  human  energy,  in 
increaing  or  lessening  its  quantity  or  deter- 
mining its  direction,  cannot  he  omitted 
from  our  survey.  In  one  point  ot  view,  it 
seems  probable  that  loss  and  gain  are  in 


100 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  OF  THE  EIRE. 


equilibrium.  On  one  side  we  see  men  of 
some  years  disheartened  and  retired  from 
productive  exertion.  On  the  other,  we  see 
places  opened  for  younger  men.  ^Assuming 
that  this  energy  must  have  taken  the  same 
direction,  we  have  only  personal  and 
moral  reasons  for  regret.  But  if  we  con- 
sider that  the  young  men  are  forced  by 
this  event  into  trade,  who  would  else  have 
been  forced  into  letters,  art,  science,  one 
perceives  in  the  persistency  of  the  old  di- 
rection of  force  an  absolute  loss  and  a  new 
danger.  For,  whatever  retards  the  natural 
movement  to  higher  forms  of  energy,  what- 
ever arrests  the  progress  of  a  society  to  a 
higher  life,  gives  to  the  lower  order  of  ac- 
tivities facility  for  crystallization  and  lessens 
the  probability  of  a  better  life.  If  in  a 
town  composed  of  huts,  an  annual  fire 
made  it  necessary  to  annually  rebuild,  the 
people  could  only  be  hut  builders  and  hut- 
dwellers.  If  young  men  are  demanded  to 
produce  grain  and  build  houses,  they  can- 
not frequent  colleges,  libraries,  or  art 
studios.  If  all  the  income  of  Mr.  Smith  is 
required  to  furnish  shelter  and  bread  for 
his  family,  his  daughters  will  be  inade- 
quately educated. 

That  general  condition  of  social  comfort 
which  has  been  the  general  aim  of  our 
young  civilization  is  in  itself  a  good  never 
to  be  despised  or  undervalued.  That  this 
fire  subtracts  in  thousands  of  homes,  not 
in  Chicago  alone,  from  this  comfortable 
status,  is  by  itself  an  evil  not  covered  up 
because  patiently  borne.  But  it  is  a  greater 
evil  that,  mixed  up  with  these  means  of 
comfortable  home  life,  there  were  accumu- 
lations intended  for  the  education  of  young 
men  and  women  On  a  smaller  scale  the 
fire  repeats  the  greatest  of  the  burdens  of 
the  war  by  subtracting  from  the  education 
of  a  generation. 

It  is  not  well  for  us  to  be  taught  in  the 
school  of  pain,  until  it  is  true  that  we  can- 
not learn  in  a  better  school.  And  therefore 
one  may  distrust  the  social  effects  of  shocks 
given  by  this  calamity  to  brave  and  noble 
men  among  us  who  are  silent  sufferers  at 
home.  One  hears  every  day  in  soft  accents 
of  sympathetic  friends,  of  this  and  that 
silver-haired  merchant,  public  servant,  or 
saint,  on  whose  bounty  the  poor  have  fed, 


by  whose  hands  churches  have  risen  out  of 
the  ground,  through  whose  wisdom  the  city 
has  been  established  on  some  of  its  perma- 
nent supports,  from  whom  the  fire  took 
away  not  merely  goods  but  all  the  forces 
whereby  goods  grew.  Many  a  prop  is 
gone  from  under  the  civilizing  institutions 
that  rose  somewhat  too  slowly  in  Chicago. 

It  is  not  merely  that  these  forces  are 
gone,  that  some  of  the  best  of  our  hands 
are  nerveless,  and  some  of  the  warmest 
friends  of  charitable  causes  rendered  help- 
less ;  the  very  mode  of  their  paralysis  is  an 
evil,  because  sudden  and  undistributed  as 
by  ordinary  death  or  failure  in  business, 
and  because  it  has  destroyed  some  of  the 
procreant  force  of  charity.  Some  celestial 
color  will  be  missed  from  our  life  at  the 
very  time  when  —  after  the  charity  of  our 
neighbors  has  ceased  to  flow  this  way  — 
the  greatest  demand  for  public  spirit  will 
exist  with  the  smallest  supply. 

It  is  painful  to  follow  the  lines  of  dis- 
tribution over  which  this  loss  travels  out 
over  the  land,  and  to  mark  everywhere  the 
disproportionate  burden  thrown  upon  the 
nobler  uses  of  life.  Whatever  educates, 
as  books,  newspapers,  magazines,  higher 
schools,  and  churches,  suffer  out  of  pro- 
portion because  material  wants  are  imperi 
ous  Just  because  we  can  hide  here  such 
a  large  proportion  of  our  loss,  we  shall  the 
sooner  recover  the  shows  of  our  prosperity ; 
but  it  is  a  loss  —  this  of  education  —  which 
has  no  compensation,  and  torments  the 
thoughtful  spirit  with  painful  apprehensions. 
The  vast  army  of  counter-jumpers,  bar- 
tenders, and  political  bummers,  is  recruited 
from  among  the  imperfectly  educated  young 
men  —  the  young  men  who  have  neither 
book  learning  nor  trades,  and  want  all 
forms  of  discipline  and  culture. 

To  know  a  danger  is  to  avoid  it.  The 
press  and  the  pulpit  have  it  in  their  power 
to  greatly  decrease  the  impending  evils  of 
diminished  benevolence  and  education. 
These  great  lights  and  forces  may,  by  giv 
ing  special  attention  to  this  danger,  prevent 
the  excessive  taxation  of  culture  and  charity 
to  repair  our  loss.  Of  these  we  must  lose 
much.  Let  our  lamp  -  bearers  see  to  it  that 
we  lose  no  more  than  we  must. 

D.  H.  Wheeler. 


APPENDIX. 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


"  r  I  "*HE  Fire,"  said  a  distinguished 
orthodox  clergyman  of  this  city 
in  a  recent  sermon,  "has  burnt  up  a 
good  deal  of  sectarianism  in  Chicago." 
Whether  this  be  true  or  not  it  is  not  our 
purpose  to  inquire ;  but  it  has  certainly 
brought  into  zealous  practice  a  great 
deal  of  unsectarian  Christianity.  "  If," 
says  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  elo- 
quent writers  of  our  generation,  "  If  it 
be  true  Christianity  to  dive  with  a  pas- 
sionate charity  into  the  darkest  realms 
of  misery  and  of  vice,  to  irrigate  every 
quarter  of  the  earth  with  the  fertilizing 
stream  of  an  almost  boundless  benevo- 
lence, and  to  include  all  the  sections  of 
humanity  in  the  circle  of  an  intense 
and  efficacious  sympathy  ;  if  it  be  true 
Christianity  to  destroy  or  weaken  the 
barriers  which  had  separated  class  from 
class  and  nation  from  nation,  to  free 
war  from  its  harshest  elements,  and  to 
make  a  consciousness  of  essential  equal- 
ity and  of  a  genuine  fraternity  domi- 
nate over  all  accidental  differences  ;  * 
*  *  if  these  be  the  marks  of  a  true 
and  healthy  Christianity,  then  never 
since  the  days  of  the  Apostles  has  it 
been  so  vigorous  as  at  present."  When 
these  words  were  written  we  had  not 
then,  as  our  newspapers  so  love  to  say. 
"  passed  recently  through  a  disastrous 
conflagration ;"  but  no  more  striking 
illustration  of  their  truth  has  been,  or, 
let  us  hope,  will  be  given  in  our  time, 
than  in  these  last  three  months  of  our 
history.  Both  in  what  has  been  done 
for  us  and  in  what  has  been  done  among 
us,  true  Christianity  has  dived  here  into 
the  darkest  recesses  of  misery ;  has 
flowed  over  us  with  a  fertilizing  stream 
of  almost  boundless  benevolence ;  and 
has  enfolded  us  as  in  an  intense  and 
effective  sympathy.  It  is  true  that  Chi- 
cago, more  than  any  other  city  on  the 
globe,  is  made  up  of  people  gathered 
together  from  all  civilized  countries. 
The  oldest  native  born  cituen  is  OJily 


about  thirty  -  five  years  of  age,  and  there 
is  hardly  an  old  man  or  an  old  woman 
in  all  its  three  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants. Much  the  larger  portion  of 
its  adults  are  young,  or  in  the  prime  of 
life,  and  all,  or  nearly  all,  have  left  old 
homes  and  kindred  elsewhere,  to  whom 
they  are  bound  by  the  closest  ties  of 
affection  and  interest. 

The  fire  broke  out  on  Sunday  even- 
ing at  ten  o'clock,  and  the  last  house  it 
caught  —  four  miles  distant  in  a  straight 
line  from  the  starting  point  —  was  still 
blazing  at  eleven  o'clock  the  next  night. 
In  that  twenty -five  hours  the  news  of 
the  disaster  was  carried  across  an  ocean 
and  a  continent,  and  the  hearts  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  were  wrung  with 
anxiety  and  suspense  as  to  the  fate,  not 
merely  of  their  fellow  creatures,  but  of 
parents  and  children,  of  brothers  and 
sisters,  and  of  intimate  friends.  The 
intense  sympathy  which  was  every- 
where shown  was  due,  doubtless,  in  a 
measure  to  this  deep  personal  interest 
in  the  event;  but  the  contagion  of  that 
sympathy  ran  through  every  town  and 
city,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  irrepressi- 
ble and  as  consuming  as  the  hot  flames 
that  were  even  then  leaping  from  house 
to  house  through  our  doomed  streets. 
The  barriers  which  separate  class  from 
class,  and  nation  from  nation,  were  no 
longer  remembered.  In  London,  in 
Vienna,  in  Paris,  in  all  European 
capitals,  instant  measures  for  relief 
followed  the  first  imperfect  com- 
prehension of  the  calamity.  It  was 
only  necessary  to  placard  upon  a  wagon 
in  any  New  York  street  the  one  word 
"Chicago,"  to  bring  out  from  every 
house  its  inmates,  loaded  with  whatev- 
er of  clothing  or  of  food  they  could  lay 
their  hands  on,  for  the  succor  of  a  suf- 
fering people  a  thousand  miles  away. 
The  rich  and  the  poor  vied  with  each 
other  in  giving  of  their  abundance  or 
their  poverty ;  and  from  the  western 


.04 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


border  of  the  American  continent  to 
the  eastern  boundary  of  Europe.a  chord 
of  tender  feeling  and  Christian  charity 
thrilled  through  all  peoples  with  pity 
and  with  love  for  those  who  were  thus 
stricken  with  sudden  poverty,  and  who 
looked  up  hopeless  and  in  despair  into 
the  pitiless  heavens,  red  with  the  reflec- 
tion of  their  burning  homes. 

Of  what  depths  of  feeling  were  stirred 
many  touching  evidences  were  given, 
in  the  hundreds  of  boxes  of  goods  sent 
here  to  private  persons  for  distribution. 
Stores  of  household  treasures  that  had 
lain  untouched  and  hidden  away  from 
the  light  of  day  for  many  years,  too 
precious  from  cherished  associations  to 
be  put  to  common  use,  were  brought 
out  now,  and  dedicated,  as  it  were,  to  a 
sacred  mission.  Their  character,  and 
the  fashion  of  them,  evidently  showed, 
as  they  were  lifted  from  their  places 
here,  what  tender  memories  must  have 
been  entwined  about  them,  and  how 
intense  the  pious  devotion  was  that 
could  enforce  consent  to  part  with  them 
now  forever.  Sheets  and  blankets  and 
coverlets,  and  stores  of  other  homely 
stuff,  as  precious  once  to  some  good 
housewife  as  the  contents  of  Mrs.  Tul- 
liver's  cedar  closet  were  to  her,  and 
which  some  loving  daughter  had  laid 
away  as  a  legacy  too  sacred  to  be  put 
to  any  common  purpose,  were  sent  as 
a  fitting  gift  to  those  who  sat  in  the 
ashes  of  all  past  memories.  Garments, 
doubtless  the  last  worn  by  friends  who 
were  dead,  and  which  carried  with  them 
some  semblance  to  the  "  dear  flesh  " 
they  once  covered,  were  sent  where 
their  new  use  was  held  to  be  no  profa- 
nation of  the  old,  sad  associations  that 
belonged  to  them.  Now  and  then, 
packed  away  with  unusual  care,  was 
some  quaint,  old-fashioned  suit  of  baby- 
clothing,  or  child's  dress,  which  was 
not  parted  with,  we  may  be  sure,  with- 
out many  tears,  for  its  very  age  told  of 
a  cherished  grief  in  the  heart  of  a  lov- 
ing mother,  who,  long  years  ago,  had 
laid  a  little  one  to  its  final  rest,  and 
now  sanctified  that  sorrow  with  the 
hope  that  the  robes  of  her  baby,  who 


died  when  she  was  young,  would  go  to 
comfort  the  heart  of  some  other  young 
mother  who  still  clasped  a  living  child 
to  her  bosom. 

There  was  no  display,  and  no  obtru- 
sion of  any  feeling  of  this  sort ;  the  only 
evidence  of  it  was  in  the  mute  testimony 
of  the  things  themselves ;  but  they  bore 
as  certain  witness  as  though  they  spoke 
with  tongues.  In  the  presence  of  a  dis- 
aster involving  so  many  in  utter  ruin, 
and  the  immediate  deprivation  of  the 
bare  necessities  of  life,  to  hold  back 
anything  which  could  be  parted  with, 
seemed  to  thousands  an  act  of  cruel 
selfishness  which  no  merely  private  sor- 
row or  personal  comfort  could  palliate; 
and  the  world  will  never  know  how 
many  sacrifices,  very  hard  to  make, 
were  laid  upon  the  altar  of  that  charity, 
how  many  crosses  were  lifted  up  cheer- 
fully and  borne  bravely  that  others' 
burdens  might  be  lightened.  If  there 
was  great  suffering,  so  also  was  there 
great  love;  and  in  the  dire  disaster  that 
befel  Chicago  came  a  swift  witness  to 
the  truth  that  far  more  powerful  than 
any  dogma  in  the  minds  of  men  in  our 
time  is  the  law,  that  "  ye  help  one  an- 
other." 

As  the  benevolence  of  the  world  was 
without  stint  and  without  parallel,  so 
was  its  confidence  boundless.  Where 
there  was  so  much  distress,  it  had  to  be 
assumed  that  of  necessity  there  must 
be  honest  men  and  women  who  would 
rob  neither  the  poor  nor  their  friends. 
Millions  were  given  in  money,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  in  goods.  The  trust  involved  in 
the  use  of  so  large  an  amount  of  prop- 
erty was  enormous,  and  it  was  by  no 
means  a  foolish  or  an  over- anxious 
question,  in  the  first  days  after  the  fire, 
whether  the  duties  of  that  trust  would 
be  faithfully  discharged.  Private  dona- 
tions of  large  value  came  immediately 
to  private  persons  in  whose  integrity 
and  judgment  friends  at  a  distance 
knew  they  could  confide.  That  confi- 
dence, we  have  no  doubt,  has  been  uni- 
formly justified ;  and  we  know  that 
many  men  and  women  have  labored 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


105 


incessantly,  though  unobtrusively,  for 
the  last  three  months  in  seeking  for  and 
relieving  suffering  among  a  class  which 
but  for  them  would  have  submitted  to 
the  very  extremity  of  want.  What  has 
been  done  in  this  way,  and  by  small 
voluntary  associations  of  ladies,  has  not 
been  and  never  can  be  told,  for  they 
have  done  good  in  secret,  and  have 
reached  cases  which  no  public  charity 
could  ever  touch.  Whether  right  or 
wrong,  there  are  many  families  who 
shrank  far  more  from  any  exposure  of 
their  poverty  than  from  starvation,  and 
their  sensitiveness  has  been  respected 
by  those  whose  privilege  it  was  to  relieve 
their  wants.  But  the  larger  class  was 
of  those  whom  public  charity  must  aid 
or  they  would  perish.  Between  them 
and  absolute  poverty  there  was,  at  all 
times,  only  the  precarious  barrier  of 
their  daily  bread,  earned  by  their  daily 
labor,  with  some  small  but  indispensa- 
ble accumulation  of  household  goods; 
and  when  these  were  swept  away,  they 
stood  face  to  face  with  gaunt  hunger 
and  blank  despair.  They  stood  face  to 
face  with  them,  but  only  for  a  day.  Had 
such  a  calamity  as  ours. occurred  to  a 
city  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thous- 
and people,  which  was  not  connected 
with  all  the  world  by  telegraphic  wires, 
and  which  was  not  a  railroad  centre, 
death  would  have  been  the  portion  of 
very  many  ere  succor  could  have 
reached  them  ;  but  here  not  even  one 
human  creature  perished  from  destitu- 
tion. The  wires  and  the  rails  assured 
us,  before  the  sun  had  set  over  the  burn- 
ing city,  that  none  need  suffer  for  food 
or  clothing;  and  there  was  none  of  that 
desperate  despair  that  might  have  led 
to  desperate  remedies. 

There  was  anxiety  enough,  and  ap- 
prehension enough,  as  everybody  re- 
members, in  the  first  few  days,  in  a  city 
without  gas,  without  water,  overworked, 
sleepless,  distracted  with  cruel  rumors, 
carefully  collated  by  a  reckless  press,  of 
ruffianism,  robbery,  and  incendiarism  ; 
but  the  real  danger  of  that  fearful  time 
seemed  to  escape  attention,  or,  at  least, 
to  find  no  voice.  That  danger  was 


whether,  after  all,  the  boundless  benev- 
olence of  the  world  would  avail  us  any- 
thing; whether  all  those  millions  of 
money  and  all  those  trains  of  food  and 
of  clothing  should  ever  reach  those  for 
whom  they  were  intended,  or  whether 
committees  should  steal  and  squander 
all  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  and 
a  hungry  and  naked  mob  should  divide 
among  the  strongest  the  material  in 
kind  of  which  they  knew  there  would 
be  no  just  distribution.  That  we  nar- 
rowly escaped  that  peril,  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  Political  adventurers  saw, 
or  thought  they  saw,  their  opportunity. 
Where  would  Chicago  and  her  wretched 
people  have  been  to-day, had  it  been 
their  fate  to  have  remained  another 
week  at  the  mercy  of  those  men,  or 
their  like,  whom  a  Grand  Jury  has  since 
called  to  the  bar  of  justice  to  answer 
for  their  ordinary  method  of  municipal 
administration  ?  It  was  not  merely  that 
there  was  no  city  government  equal  to 
the  occasion,  but  that  in  the  utter  cor- 
ruption of  our  city  politics  there  would 
have  been  even  no  attempt  to  meet  so 
terrible  an  emergency.  There  would 
have  been  a  desperate  scramble  for  the 
spoils,  first  of  officials,  and  then  of  the 
mob;  and  the  disaster  of  destruction 
would  have  been  followed  by  the  deep- 
er disaster  of  disgrace  and  anarchy. 

But  one  just  man  can  save  a  city. 
Fortunately  Mayor  R.  B.  Mason  con- 
trolled officially  all  the  contributions  in 
money  and  material  sent  for  the  relief 
of  the  people,  and  fortunately  Mayor 
Mason  was  both  a  man  of  probity  and 
a  man  of  sense.  He  saw  not  only  the 
thing  that  was  not  to  be  done,  but  he 
saw  also,  just  as  clearly,  the  thing  to  do. 
To  a  citizens'  committee,  which  had  on 
it  some  good  men,  but  which  was  con- 
trolled by  those  who  were  politicians  by 
trade,  and  therefore  not  good,  he  gave 
a  fair  trial  of  three  days.  Three  days 
were  enough  to  show  that  we  were  going 
to  the  bad  almost  as  fast  as  the  fire 
swept  from  the  WTest  Side  to  the  North, 
and  with  a  result  quite  as  certain.  He 
looked  about  him  for  men  who  were 
honest  as  well  as  wise  ;  men  identified 


io6 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


with  the  true  interests  and  the  fair  fame 
of  Chicago ;  men  who  would  not  if  they 
could,  and  could  not  if  they  would,  be- 
tray the  sacred  trust  which  the  sympa- 
thy and  the  benevolence  of  the  whole 
Christian  world  had  put  into  its  hands; 
and  he  found  an  organization  ready- 
made,  better  -  fitted  for  the  work  to  be 
done  than  if  it  had  been  created  at  the 
moment  for  that  special  purpose. 

On  the  1 2th  of  October  he  handed 
over  to  The  Relief  and  Aid  Society  a 
hundred  thousand  homeless,  hungry, 
and  almost  naked  people,  with  the 
means  to  house  and  feed  and  clothe 
them,  and  held  the  Society  before  the 
world,  by  proclamation,  responsible  for 
the  gravest  duty  that  ever  yet  fell  upon 
private  citizens  in  the  administration  of 
the  largest  charity  the  world  has  ever 
known.  What  special  considerations 
they  were  that  moved  the  Mayor  to  this 
decision,  is  not  of  much  moment,  inas- 
much as  the  result  has  proved  that  the 
decision  was  a  wise  one,  and  nothing  is 
so  wise  as  wisdom.  But  he  doubtless 
reflected  that  the  men  he  selected  were, 
from  their  circumstances,  social  posi- 
tion, and  private  character,  above  per- 
sonal temptation  ;  that  they  could  have 
no  partisan  purpose  or  political  end  to 
gain  by  the  perversion  of  a  public  fund ; 
that  they  had  had  long  experience  in 
dispensing  charity  to  the  needy,  moved 
thereto  by  no  other  motive  than  a  sense 
of  humane  and  Christian  duty.  Their 
acts,  moreover,  would  be  open  to  pub- 
lic inspection  and  public  criticism,  for 
the  Society  was  a  chartered  institution, 
and  by  its  act  of  incorporation  its  di- 
rectors were  obliged  "  to  make  a  report 
at  least  once  a  year  to  the  City  Council 
of  Chicago,  giving  a  full  account  of  their 
doings,  a  statement  of  their  receipts  and 
expenditures,  verified  under  oath " ; 
and  by  the  same  act  it  is  provided  that 
"  any  officer,  agent,  or  member  of  said 
corporation,  who  shall  fraudulently  em- 
bezzle or  appropriate  to  his  own  use  any 
of  the  funds  or  property  of  the  said 
corporation,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of 
larceny,  and  liable  to  be  indicted  and 
punished  accordingly." 


In  accepting  the  grave  responsibility 
bestowed  upon  them,  the  officers  of  the 
society  gave  the  strongest  guaranty  pos- 
sible, first,  in  their  character  and  posi- 
tion as  private  citizens,  and,  second,  in 
their  relation  to  the  law  as  a  public  body, 
that  the  duties  devolving  upon  them 
would  be  discharged  wisely,  honestly, 
and  humanely.  The  Mayor  could  no 
doubt  have  selected  other  citizens  quite 
as  wise,  quite  as  honest,  and  quite  as 
humane,  to  whom  he  could  have  en- 
trusted the  care  of  the  army  of  his  in- 
digent constituents  to  be  marshalled 
into  peace  and  comfort  and  thrift,  but 
he  could  not  hold  them  responsible  to 
any  legal  obligation  ;  or  he  might  have 
asked  of  the  Legislature  the  creation  of 
the  legal  obligation,  but  then  the  selec- 
tion of  the  citizens  would  not  have  been 
in  his  hands.  The  existence  of  the 
Relief  and  Aid  Society  relieved  him  of 
any  such  dilemma  ;  its  officers  were  the 
very  men  he  wanted,  and  they  were 
already  answerable  for  a  faithful  dis- 
charge of  the  trust  they  accepted.  It 
was  fortunate  for  Chicago,  and  fortu- 
nate for  the  Mayor  that  he  saw  his  way 
clearly. 

It  is  not  details  but  results  that  we  are 
considering,  for  the  method  and  ma- 
chinery of  their  labors  the  Committee 
have  fully  explained  in  their  first  Spe- 
cial Report,  which  is  within  everybody's 
reach.  It  is  by  their  fruits  that  those 
labors  are  to  be  judged,  and  their  meth- 
od, however  admirable  as  a  statement, 
is  good  for  nothing  as  a  fact  if  it  does 
not  stand  this  experimental  test.  We 
are  not,  it  is  proper  to  state,  the  advo- 
cate of  the  Society  in  any  partisan 
sense ;  we  are  under  no  obligation  to  it 
even  to  the  value  of  a  daily  ration ; 
and  we  bear  no  relation  to  it  whatever 
that  can  blind  our  eyes  or  warp  our 
judgment.  Indeed,  we  observe  one 
notable  fact  in  regard  to  the  Relief 
Committee, — that  they  do  not  defend 
themselves  from  any  attacks  that  have 
been  made  upon  them,  nor  ask,  so  far 
as  we  know,  any  defence  from  anybody 
'  else.  They  are  too  busy  to  listen  to 
cavil,  though  always  ready  to  hear  com- 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


107 


plaints  ;  too  much  in  earnest  to  stop  for 
idle  discussion,  though  always  ready  to 
receive  suggestions ;  too  strong  in  their 
own  integrity  and  too  firmly  persuaded 
of  the  magnitude  of  their  task  and  the 
practical  results  of  their  way  of  hand- 
ling it,  to  permit  themselves  to  be  turned 
aside  by  captious  fault  -  finding.  If  there 
are  points  in  their  management  that 
need  to  be  explained,  the  explanation, 
we  presume,  will  come  in  due  season, 
and  on  the  whole  we  think  the  public 
can  find  patience  to  wait  for  it.  For 
meanwhile  the  welfare  of  Chicago  to- 
day, her  reputation  the  world  over,  and 
her  character  for  the  future,  dating  ur- 
bis  conflagratio,  are  recorded  indelibly 
and  unmistakably  in  the  daily  lives  of  a 
hundred  thousand  people,  whom  the 
Relief  Committee  have  in  charge.  The 
problem  to  be  solved  in  regard  to  them 
had  three  conditions :  First,  that  none 
of  them  should  perish  ;  second,  that 
none  of  them  should  suffer  for  want  of 
food,  or  of  clothing,  or  of  shelter ;  and 
third,  that  when  these  points  were  at- 
tained, there  should  be  left,  as  the  grand 
result,  a  hundred  thousand  industrious, 
thrifty,  and  happy  people,  and  not  a 
hundred  thousand  idle,  discontented, 
and  helpless  paupers.  Three  months 
ago,  the  fire  left  them  all  in  absolute 
destitution,  and  not  one  of  them  knew, 
on  the  morning  of  the  gth  of  October, 
where  they  should  lay  their  heads  that 
night,  where  their  next  meal  was  to 
come  from,  or  wherewithal  they  should 
be  clothed.  But  not  one  human  crea- 
ture has  died  as  a  consequence  of  a 
destitution  so  unprecedented  ;  there  has 
been  among  them  no  real  suffering  for. 
the  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  dur- 
ing a  season  of  unusual  severity,  and 
all  the  hardship  that  has  been  endured 
is  positively  less  than  the  poor  are  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  in  ordinary  winters; 
and  not  one  of  all  this  multitude  is  left 
without  a  home  of  some  sort,  and  many 
of  them  have  been  put  in  houses  of 
their  own,  almost  as  comfortable  and 
almost  as  good  as  those  they  occupied 
before  the  fire  swept  them  away. 

To  establish  a  system  that  would  do 


this,  and  do  it  in  the  shortest  possible 
time,  on  the  very  edge  of  winter,  was 
an  enormous  work,  requiring  energy, 
directed  by  the  most  unerring  j  udgment, 
and  commercial  ability  and  experience 
backed  by  the  most  careful  economy, 
and  the  strictest  probity.  Nor  was  it  a 
work  of  a  single  day,  or  week,  or  month, 
but  of  half  a  year ;  demanding  fore- 
sight, the  exactest  calculation  of  means 
to  ends,  unwearied  and  constant  labor, 
and  keen  insight  into  the  character  of 
men  to  whom  the  details  of  the  work 
were  entrusted.  Commerce,  we  know, 
clothes  and  feeds  and  houses  any  given 
community,  whether  large  or  small ;  but 
commerce  works  by  precedent,  calcu- 
lates supply  by  a  known  or  probable 
demand,  whether  of  necessaries  or  lux- 
uries, and  does  its  work  by  many  self- 
appointed  agents  whose  separate  sphere 
is  narrow  and  who  easily  master  the 
defined  limits  of  their  activity.  So  we 
know  that  armies,  large  and  small,  are 
lodged  and  fed  and  clothed ;  but  the 
nucleus  of  the  army  is  the  squad  of  the 
recruiting  sergeant,  and  the  agglomera- 
tion of  the  parts  is  not  permitted  till 
Quartermasters  General  and  Commis- 
saries General  are  provided  with  all  that 
is  needed  for  sustenance  and  protection. 
But  here  was  a  community  for  which 
commerce  could  make  no  calculation  ; 
of  which  the  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand had  no  cognizance ;  for  whose 
wants  there  were  no  agents,  and 
where  every  individual  member  had 
lost  all  past  accumulations,  had  no  re- 
sources from  which  to  provide  for  the 
most  pressing  wants,  were  suddenly  de- 
prived of  the  ordinary  means  of  sub- 
sistence, and  stood  with  outstretched 
hands,  hopeless,  destitute,  and  almost 
as  helpless  as  when  he  came  into  the 
world.  Here  was  an  army,  not  mus- 
tered by  squads  at  the  sergeant's  con- 
venience, to  await  the  orders  of  Quar- 
termasters and  Commissaries ;  but  an 
army,  a  hundred  thousand  strong,  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  huddled 
together  in  the  extremity  of  distress  and 
terror,  to  become  marshalled  on  the  in- 
stant into  an  organized  body,  or  left  to 


io8 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


become  a  starving,  fierce,  and  lawless 
mob.  We  look  with  pride  upon  Chica- 
go rising  again  slowly  and  laboriously 
above  her  two  thousand  acres  of  ashes 
and  ruins  ;  but  had  there  been  among 
us  no  men  wise  enough  and  strong 
enough  to  take  into  their  hands  the  es- 
sential government  of  the  city,  and  to 
dispense  with  prudence  and  forethought 
the  largess  of  the  world,  we  should  have 
still  sat  mourning  in  that  abomination 
of  desolation. 

Perhaps  the  time  has  not  yet  come 
when  it  can  be  definitely  pronounced 
that  the  third  condition  of  the  problem 
has  been  fully  solved.  Pauperism  be- 
gets pauperism,  and  the  danger  always 
is  that  it  will  grow  with  what  it  feeds 
on.  But  to  so  care  for  this  impover- 
ished and  ruined  multitude  that  they 
shall  neither  lose  the  sense  of  self-re- 
spect and  independence  nor  the  habit 
of  self-support,  has  been  from  the  be- 
ginning the  aim  of  the  Relief  Commit- 
tee. The  very  poor  are  always  on  the 
verge  of  despair,  and  an  event  which 
only  serves  to  nerve  the  energies  of  those 
in  better  circumstances,  sinks  them 
often  in  hopeless  beggary.  But  fortu- 
nately there  are  almost  no  very  poor  in 
Chicago.  Plenty  of  work  and  good 
wages  and  the  chances  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  property  are  here  so  uniform 
that  their  influence  is  marked  upon  the 
character  of  the  people.  The  losses  by 
the  fire  are  counted  by  the  hundreds  of 
millions,  but  the  estimate  is  made  up 
from  the  destruction  in  merchandise 
and  buildings  and  insurance,  visible 
wealth,  the  value  of  which  could  be 
easily  reckoned.  No  account  is  taken 
of  the  little  unseen  accumulations  of 
the  poorer  class,  the  household  goods, 
the  fruits  of  long  and  painful  industry, 
the  stores  for  winter  use,  the  tools  and 
implements  of  mechanics  and  laborers, 
all  of  small  value  when  considered  sep- 
arately, but  large  in  the  aggregate.  It 
is  one  of  the  striking  facts  revealed  by 
the  business  of  Relief  that  the  poor  of 
Chicago  are  not  of  the  very  poor,  but 
that  the  habit  of  forehandedness  is  al- 
most universal  among  them,  and  that 


there  were  very  few  who  were  not  losers 
by  the  fire  of  something  more  than  the 
bare  necessities  of  living  from  day  to 
day.  As  an  illustration  among  many, 
we  know  of  a  poor  German  woman, 
who,  at  the  wash-tub  and  over  the 
ironing-board,  had  accumulated  a  pro- 
perty of  several  thousand  dollars,  and 
had  made  the  last  payment,  on  Satur- 
day, the  yth  of  October,  on  a  house 
costing  two  thousand  dollars,  which  the 
fire  the  next  night  swept  away.  She 
recounts  to  any  listener  the  story  of  her 
labors  and  her  losses,  enumerates  the 
comfortable  and  handsome  dresses  she 
had  laid  by,  among  other  blessings,  for 
her  old  age,  but  breaking  down  invari- 
ably when  she  comes  to  the  fifth,  which 
was  trimmed  with  velvet.  Houses  and 
furniture  she  can  speak  of  with  calm- 
ness and  resignation,  but  the  memory 
of  the  velvet  trimmings  is  too  much  for 
her.  Everywhere,  in  odd  and  unex- 
pected ways  and  places,  the  evidence 
of  the  habit  of  accumulation  crops  out 
and  shows  how  far  the  spirit  of  the  peo- 
ple is  from  that  of  paupers.  It  was 
good  ground  to  work  upon,  and  the 
Relief  Committee  have  cultivated  it 
diligently  and  well.  That  work  is  the 
rule,  and  idleness  to  be  tolerated  only 
where  enforced  by  want  of  work  or  sick- 
ness, is  a  wholesome  regulation,  never 
lost  sight  of;  though  it  is  sometimes 
necessary  to  remind  some  over -zealous 
visitor,  disposed  to  enforce  too  rigidly 
the  maxim  "  that  he  who  will  not  work 
neither  shall  he  eat,"  that  Chicago  win- 
ters were  not  known  in  Judea.  But 
applicants  for  aid  do  not  usually  shrink 
from  toil.  The  old  habit  speedily  re- 
sumed its  sway  ;  cheerful  hopefulness 
soon  took  the  place  of  despair  when 
they  found  that  there  was  help  at  hand 
to  aid  them  over  slippery  places,  so 
putting  the  past  calamity  behind  them 
they  make  a  new  beginning,  aiming  at 
the  bright  future  to  which  they  had  al- 
ways looked  with  a  steady  face.  Here 
and  there,  it  is  true,  imposters  turn  up, 
who  recount  their  sufferings  and  flaunt 
their  rags  with  pitiful  pleadings  and 
wonderful  dramatic  power.  But,  by 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


109 


following  their  doublings  from  station 
to  station,  it  is  found  that  one  scamp 
would  have  attempted  twenty  frauds 
where,  under  a  less  perfect  system, 
there  would  have  seemed  to  be  twenty 
rogues. 

From  the  class  who  really  need  aid 
there  is  no  grumbling.  They  under- 
stand the  situation  and  accept  it.  They 
comprehend  the  tremendous  difficulties 
of  the  work  the  Committee  have  in 
hand ;  are  helpful  and  not  repining ; 
know  that  they  ought  not  to  have,  and 
do  not  expect  to  have,  anything  but 
temporary  help,  and  strive  with  all  their 
might  to  keep  pauperism  from  the  door 
as  manfully  as  ever  they  fought  against 
hunger.  In  nothing  is  this  spirit 
so  manifest  as  in  the  success  of  the  plan 
of  providing  "  Shelter  houses,"  the 
wisest  and  the  most  permanent  in  its 
effect  of  any  of  the  measures  adopted 
by  the  Committee.  To  feed  and  to 
clothe  the  poor  was  absolutely  necessa- 
ry, but,  after  all,  was  only  temporary 
relief.  If  nothing  more  could  be  done 
the  inevitable  consequence  would  be 
that  many  would  sink  into  hopeless 
despondency,  and  the  town  be  burden- 
ed, in  the  spring,  wiih  a  crowd  of  help- 
less paupers.  The  proposition  to  pro- 
vide all  whose  homes  had  been  burned, 
but  who  owned  or  leased  the  lots  on 
which  they  stood,  with  a  cheap  but 
comfortable  house,  was  accepted  with 
delight  and  gratitude.  It  gave  a  fixed 
value  at  once  to  what  they  had  left,  the 
land  ;  it  provided  them  with  a  home  of 
their  own  ;  it  decreased  their  expenses 
by  the  amount  of  rent  they  would  have 
had  to  pay  elsewhere,  and  left  all  their 
earnings  for  the  support  of  their  fami- 
lies; it  made  them  at  once  self-sup- 
porting ;  it  made  them  again  indepen- 
dent citizens,  giving  them  once  more 
the  proud  sense  of  being  property - 
holders,  of  having  a  share  in  the  well- 
being  of  the  community,  bestowing 
upon  them  a  renewed  incentive  to  good 
order,  industry,  and  thrift.  Many  of 
these  houses  the  occupants,  with  little 
savings  of  their  own,  improved  and 
added  to,  so  that  they  were  made  almost 


if  not  quite  as  good  as  those  they  had 
lost.  A  considerable  portion  of  the 
burnt  district  is  thus  already  built  up 
and  occupied  by  a  permanent  popula- 
tion which  would  otherwise  have  been 
scattered  or  have  remained  in  penury, 
but  which  may  now  be  relied  upon  to 
furnish  mechanics  and  laborers  for  the 
future  wants  of  the  city.  About  six 
thousand  of  them  have  already  been 
built ;  to  these  probably  two  thousand 
more  will  be  added  in  the  next  two  or 
three  months,  providing  homes  for  not 
less  than  forty  thousand  people.  Their 
cost  will  be  perhaps  one -third  of  the 
whole  of  the  Relief  Fund,  but  it  is 
money  not  expended  but  invested,  is  a 
permanent  gift  to  Chicago  and  that 
portion  of  those  who  lost  their  all  by  the 
fire.  The  money  could  have  been  put 
to  no  wiser  or  more  beneficent  use,  both 
in  its  material  and  its  moral  influence ; 
and  the  benefactors,  whose  generous 
sympathy  made  it  possible,  will  feel, 
when  they  come  to  understand  its  char- 
acter, that  by  such  a  disposition  of  their 
bounty  far  more  has  been  done  for  Chi- 
cago than  they  ever  intended. 

We  hope  that  we  do  not  seem  to  have 
indulged  in  superlatives.  That  spirit 
of  braggadocio  which  pretended  to  a 
boastful  pride  in  the  extent  of  the  fire, 
and  vaunts  itself  now  on  what  it  is 
pleased  to  assume  as  an  exceptional 
display  of  activity  since  on  the  part  of 
our  business  people  —  as  if  a  man  in 
deep  water  could  do  anything  but  swim 
or  else  sink  to  the  bottom  —  that  boast- 
ful tendency  commends  itself  neither 
to  good  taste  nor  sound  judgment.  But 
the  fire  was  certainly  a  remarkable 
event,  and  it  has  had  some  consequen- 
ces which  the  political  economist  and 
the  moralist  may  consider  with  profit. 
"You  have  had,"  said  the  young  Rus- 
sian prince,  who  was  here  a  few  days 
since,  "  you  have  had  a  great  burn." 
This  may  be  stated  as  a  fact  without 
offending  anybody's  most  delicate  sense 
of  modesty.  It  certainly  was,  at  least, 
"a  great  burn  "  that  destroyed  between 
fifteen  and  sixteen  thousand  buildings ; 
burnt  over  more  than  two  thousand 


HO 


CHICAGO  AND  THE  RELIEF  COMMITTEE. 


acres  of  a  populous  city ;  raged  steadily 
for  five  and  twenty  hours  unchecked 
and  uncontrolled,  even  fora  single  mo- 
ment, and  turned  out  into  the  night 
probably  a  hundred  and  twenty -five 
thousand  people,  stripped,  to  the  scanty 
clothing  in  which  they  ran  for  their 
lives,  of  all  their  earthly  possessions.  It 
needs  no  expletives  to  describe  it.  The 
most  vivid  imagination  and  the  most 
ingenious  invention  halt  lamely  and 
tamely  far  behind  its  mingled  facts  of 
tragedy  and  comedy.  For  here  were  a 
siege  and  a  battle ;  a  defeated  army 
and  a  flying  host;  the  terrors  of  a  famine 
and  a  revolution ;  —  and  here  were  the 
grim  humor  of  despair ;  the  ludicrous 
display,  in  thousands  of  ways,  of  per- 
sonal peculiarities  and  eccentricities 
surprised  into  sudden  betrayal;  the  un- 
reservedness  and  frankness  of  the  sim- 
ple human  relation  where  convention- 
alism and  artificial  restraint  came  out 
in  curious  and  absurd  contrast  with  a 
state  of  nature.  But  more  remarkable 
than  the  fire  itself  are  the  events  that 
have  followed  it.  Cities  have  been 
burned  down  before,  and  battles  and 
sieges,  and  the  flight  of  multitudes,  and 
revolutipns  and  famines,  are  scattered 
thick  through  all  the  pages  of  history. 
But  nowhere  ever  before  has  it  been 
recorded  that  the  terror  and  desolation 
and  destitution  which  mark  such  events 
have  passed  away  and  not  a  single  hu- 
man life,  after  the  fisst  shock  and  strug- 
gle, has  been  lost ;  not  one  has  endured 
the  pangs  of  hunger  or  of  cold ;  not 
one  is  left  without  a  shelter ;  not  one 
act  of  violence  or  of  open  immorality 


has  followed  the  sudden  change  from 
settled  life  to  the  severing  of  so  many 
social  ties  dependent  upon  it ;  but  that, 
on  the  contrary,  the  terrible  ordeal  has' 
been  passed  through  in  safety.  That  ist- 
we  mean,  aside  from  the  inevitable  losses 
and  distress  which  come  as  by  the  act 
of  God  and  cannot  be  avoided,  none 
of  the  ordinary  results  of  great  calami- 
ties have  followed  here,  among  that 
class  who  became  peculiarly  the  care 
of  public  charity,  and  about  whom 
alone  the  world  is  entitled  to  know. 
Disaster  overwhelmed  them,  but  they 
have  not  sunk ;  sudden  poverty,  like  a 
thief  in  the  night,  came  upon  them, 
but  none  are  sick,  or  starving,  or  in 
prison  ;  they  have  looked  a  future  in 
the  face  that  was  all  darkness,  but  have 
not  despaired  ;  the  wrath  of  God  seem- 
ed to  many  to  have  been  visited  upon 
them,  and  yet  they  lost  no  faith.  These 
facts  are  patent  to  whomsoever  will 
take  the  trouble  to  inform  himself  of 
that  condition  of  Chicago  that  lies  be- 
neath the  surface;  and  it  is  not  an 
inconsiderate  eulogy  upon  the  Relief 
and  Aid  Committee  to  ascribe  this 
unprecedented  condition  of  things,  fol- 
lowing a  great  public  calamity,  to  the 
wisdom,  the  self-devotion,  and  the 
courage  with  which  they  have  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  the  great  and 
sublime  trust  that  fell  into  their  hands. 
If  we  are  right  in  believing  that  here  is 
a  new  phenomenon  in  the  history  of 
civilization,  then  we  do  not  err  in  com- 
mending it  to  the  consideration  of 
thoughtful  men. 

Sydnev  Howard  Gay. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


NOV  1  4  1997 

SRLF 
2  WEEK  LO Aft4 


